​British Airways is the national flag carrier of the United Kingdom, and operates full international and domestic scheduled air services for the carriage of passengers, freight and mail and the provision of ancillary services. British Airways operates to 183 destinations around the world with a fleet of 292 aircraft. British Airways are one of the world’s leading scheduled premium international airlines. Their main principal place of business is Heathrow, one of the world’s premier airport locations, which serves a large geographical area with a comparatively high proportion of point-to-point business. Operating one of the most extensive international scheduled airline route networks, together with our codeshare and franchise partners, British Airways flies to more than 300 destinations worldwide.

Route: Geneva International Airport to London Heathrow 

Departure date and time of flight: 17:25 on August 28, 2015

Flight Number: BA733

Flight duration: One hour and 30 minutes (Includes a 20 minutes hold over Biggin Hill)

Cabin: Euro Traveller (Economy Class)

Aircraft type: Airbus A319 (44 in service)

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time from Geneva International, but (as always) had to hold for around 20 minutes over Biggin Hill in the South East of London before landing on runway 27 Left at Heathrow Airport. The evening view of London is amazing. Clear views of the traffic jams on the M25, as well as Canary Wharf and other landmarks look stunning. I managed to capture a lovely shot of Biggin Hill as we circled the airport in South East London. Heathrow is such a busy airport that flights have to stack up at four main points around London- Biggin Hill (SE London), Lambourne (NE London), Bovingdon (NW London) or Ockham (SW London).   

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in:

This was my first time I had travelled through Geneva Airport since 2009. In those days I used to fly every week between London and Geneva because of my job. No issues at check-in. Geneva Airport still looks the same and nothing has changed in all these years. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Geneva Airport. Just like the rest of the Swiss culture- everything is on time and in an orderly manner. No hustle and bustle.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca cola), and wine.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Just cold sandwiches and rolls were offered for this very short-haul flight.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the snacks.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very professional and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

This was a great flight, and on such a short flight, it is difficult to find any faults. Everything was just fine.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Airbus A319 is part of the A320 series of aircraft are used by British Airways for their short to medium haul routes within Europe. The aircraft is used from both Gatwick and Heathrow. The interior is a standard 3-3 for Economy and 2-2 configuration for Business Class passengers. The Business and Economy Class seats are all leather in navy blue colour (typical of the signature for British Airways).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10

​British Airways is the national flag carrier of the United Kingdom, and operates full international and domestic scheduled air services for the carriage of passengers, freight and mail and the provision of ancillary services. British Airways operates to 183 destinations around the world with a fleet of 292 aircraft. British Airways are one of the world’s leading scheduled premium international airlines. Their main principal place of business is Heathrow, one of the world’s premier airport locations, which serves a large geographical area with a comparatively high proportion of point-to-point business. Operating one of the most extensive international scheduled airline route networks, together with our codeshare and franchise partners, British Airways flies to more than 300 destinations worldwide.

Route: London Heathrow International Airport to Geneva International Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 07:05 on August 27, 2015

Flight Number: BA730

Flight duration: One hour and 30 minutes

Cabin: Euro Traveller (Economy Class)

Aircraft type: Airbus A319 (44 in service)

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed around 30 minutes late from Heathrow Airport’s runway 27 left due to heavy morning traffic waiting to depart. Just after take-off from Heathrow, and as we turned left to head towards the English coast, we were greeted with a wonderful view of Farnborough Airfield from around 4,000 feet. Even more stunning was the view of Mount Blanc and the countryside around Lake Genève as we approached Geneva.

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in:

This was my first time I had travelled to Geneva since 2009. In those days I used to fly every week between London and Geneva because of my job. No issues at check-in at Heathrow Terminal 5, which is dedicated for British Airways flights. The morning flight was delayed due to heavy showers and the morning rush-hour at Heathrow.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca cola), and wine.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Lemon flavoured biscuits by Island Bakery and nuts and dried fruit by Forest Feast.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the snacks.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very professional and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

This was a great flight, and on such a short flight, it is difficult to find any faults. Everything was just fine.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Airbus A319 is part of the A320 series of aircraft are used by British Airways for their short to medium haul routes within Europe. The aircraft is used from both Gatwick and Heathrow. The interior is a standard 3-3 for Economy and 2-2 configuration for Business Class passengers. The Business and Economy Class seats are all leather in navy blue colour (typical of the signature for British Airways).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Oman Air is the flagship carrier of the Sultanate of Oman and an Official 4 Star Airline (Skytrax 2011). Founded in 1993, the airline has since witnessed massive growth and has played a major role in making Muscat an important traffic hub in the Middle East, supporting the commercial, industrial and tourism sectors.
 
Currently Oman Air’s fleet consists of two Boeing 787 Dreamliners, six Airbus 330-300s, four Airbus 330-200s, five Boeing 737-900s, 18 Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 737-700, four Embraer 175s and an ATR 42. Four more Dreamliners will join the fleet in the following years. By 2018, Oman Air’s total fleet size is expected to be around 57 aircraft, rising to 70 aircraft by 2020.
 
Oman Air scooped four awards at the Oman Airports Management Company Second Annual Awards ceremony, on February 2015. The national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman was recognized as one of the top five airlines by number of passengers carried at Muscat International Airport. It also received an award as one of the top three airlines at Salalah International Airport, as well as receiving accolades in the Non-Aeronautical and Stakeholder of the Year 2014 categories.
 
Oman Air won two awards at the World Travel Awards Middle East 2015, where the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman came top in the ‘Middle East's Leading Airline - Business Class’ and ‘Middle East's Leading Airline - Economy Class’ categories. Oman Air was also named as the winner of the ’Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East’ award at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2015.
 
I tried and tested the Business Class seat on this short-haul flight from Muscat International Airport to London Heathrow Airport on the Airbus A330-343X aircraft.
 
Route: MUSCAT (MCT) to LONDON HEATHROW (LHR)

Departure date and time of flight: August 2015, 14:00

Flight number: WY101 (Oman 101 heavy)
 
ATC Callsign: Oman

Flight duration: 6 Hours 55 minutes

Class: BUSINESS CLASS

Aircraft type: AIRBUS A330-343X (six aircraft of this type in service)
 
Aircraft registration: A4O-DB
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 10044
 
First flight: 10th September 2009
 
Aircraft delivery date: 2nd October 2009
 
Aircraft engine types: Two x RR Trent 772B-60
 
Frequent flyer programme:
 
Sinbad is the official frequent flyer program. Click here to see more.
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
First Class: Six suites (1-1-1-1 configuration)
Business Class: 20 flatbed seats with 180 recline in a 1-1-1-1 configuration
Economy Class: 202 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration
 
Punctuality of the flight/route taken:
 
The fully booked flight left Muscat on time and landed on time at London Heathrow, with around 10 minutes ahead of schedule of the arrival time.

Any baggage issues:
 
My bags had been checked in at Kathmandu Airport, so there were no issues at Muscat.
 
Lounge experience at Muscat Airport:
 
Business and First Class passengers flying with Oman Air can use the lounge at Muscat Airport, located after security. The first thought is that the lounge is almost empty with hardly a whisker in sight! It is definitely much more relaxed and quieter than what you may see in Doha, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and much more of a relaxing experience. The airport is generally quieter as well, which is a good thing- less crowds!
 
In-flight magazine: Wings of Oman is the in-flight magazine. Click here to read online PDF copies.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Passengers’ in Business Class are offered hot lemon scented towels prior to departure. This is followed by a drinks service, which consists of some of the world’s finest wines, and champagne. In Business Class, the cabin crew offer various kinds of drinks prior to departure:
 

• Fresh orange juice
• Mineral water
• Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne (founded in 1818)

 
I opted for the orange juice on this occasion.
 
Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
Around about 45 minutes after departure, drinks were served from the trolley.
 
Comments regarding the first meal:
 
Starters with salad of mixed leaves and crisp vegetables
 
For the main course, I opted for the flavours from the Sultanate: Pan-seared kingfish kebab with herb butter sauce, roasted wedges and char-grilled lemon. Very delicious.
 
Accompanying the main dish was a bowl of fresh seasonal fruit, and a selection of warm bread from the basket.
 
For dessert, there was homemade apple and blueberry pie, cinnamon sauce, chilled sauce.
 
Comments regarding the second meal:
 
The afternoon tea plate consisted of:
 

• Smoked salmon and egg multi grain roll
• Chef's chocolate gateau
• Mini chicken kebab in braised red pepper Juliene

 
The afternoon tea was served with a selection of teas, provided by Twinnings and Dilmah.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

Oman Air offers a variety of in-flight entertainment options, including video, audio and TV. Please click here to see more. On my flight, the IFE system did not work at all, which obviously was disappointing. However, it didn’t really matter much as it was a short flight. It would have been nice if the interactive map was working so that I could see where I was flying over but this was not working. No big deal. Otherwise, the flight experience was good.
 
Oman Air’s Airbus A330-300 features 20 Business Class seats designed by BE Aerospace. Fitted in a 1-1-1-1 configuration, each comfortable and spacious 22-inch wide seat converts to a 77-82 inch long, fully flat bed.
 
With electrically-operated backrest, seat bottom, seat depth and leg rest controls, and a folding armrest, each customer remains in control of their own environment for the duration of their flight. Furthermore, one-piece meal table and cocktail table offer a range of dining options, whilst an integrated reading light and mood light controls enable customers to work, read or relax, according to their wishes.
 
A literature pocket, headset compartment, life vest compartment and ample storage space keep each passenger’s space neat. Access to the aircraft’s leading edge Thales AVANT in-seat audio video on demand (AVOD) inflight entertainment system is through a huge 17-inch monitor and easy-to-use touch screen handset. The system offers a wide range of movies, music, games and information. Charging devices and extended use of laptops is supported by each seat’s universal power outlet and two USB ports.
 
And, having pioneered complete inflight mobile phone (GSM) and Wi-Fi connectivity in 2010, Oman Air has now raised the bar further by introducing the latest Airbus ALNA system for on-board WiFi and mobile phone usage.
 
To complement this outstanding comfort and amenity, Oman Air has fitted the same Thales AVANT in-seat audio video on demand (AVOD) system in this short and medium haul aircraft as it has in its new long haul A330s.
 
Both the Oman Air’s new Airbus A330-300s and new Boeing B737s feature seats newly-designed by Zodiac Aerospace. Each offers exceptional comfort and features a one-piece composite seat back structure, a high seat back pivot and articulating bottom pan and a four-way adjustable headrest.
 
Seat pitches reflect the length of flights each aircraft are deployed upon, with the A330’s 202 seats offering 32 inches and the 737-900ER’s 171 seats offering 30 inches. A folding aisle-side armrest offers increased ease of access, and a sturdy, bi-fold, sliding food table makes a pleasure of in-seat dining or working.
 
Meanwhile, the 10.6-inch seatback LCD screen offers access to the same IFE options as those enjoyed in Business Class. A USB is mounted on the LCD screen that can be used to charge any mobile smart phone and each pair of seats shares a PC power port.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew appear to have been trained very well, and seem to know how to handle all kinds of situations. The trainers must have had everything thrown at them, ranging from rowdy passengers to those having a nervous breakdown. These people are amazing. They really do pamper you. Most of the cabin crew are not natives of Oman itself, but are from South Asia or Asian countries in general (Philippines, Thailand, India, China etc.).

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
Oman Air’s Airbus A330-300 features 20 Business Class seats designed by BE Aerospace. Fitted in a 1-1-1-1 configuration, each comfortable and spacious 22-inch wide seat converts to a 77-82 inch long, fully flat bed. The Business Class seat looks and feels like a double bed! It is bigger than even some of the First Class seats I have seen on other airlines.
 
There is certainly plenty of space available. I had my camera bag (which is annoyingly big), plus my laptop (I seldom have to sleep on a daytime flight so I end up working!), AND my carrier bag. All of these were neatly stored before departure. Oh, there is also space for you to put your shoes during the long flight so you can sit like as if you are sitting on your sofa at home. There were plenty of in-flight magazines and newspapers (both Arabic and Western) for passengers.

A luxury amenity kit was provided on this flight by luxury brand Amouage.
 
Oman Air logo and livery: 
 
In 2008, Oman Air completely overhauled its livery, switching its base colour from red to turquoise blue and ditching the traditional khanjar dagger symbol in favour of a logo representing incense smoke. Oman Air chief executive Ziad Al-Haremi at the time unveiled the new livery at a ceremony in Muscat. The new identity follows the Omani Government’s decision to withdraw from Gulf Air and concentrate on developing Oman Air as the sultanate’s sole flag-carrier. The livery features a gold-and-silver swirl which is reminiscent of a swirl of smoke from the aromatic resin frankincense for which Oman is particularly renowned.
 
The turquoise colour represents the expanse of both the sky and the sea while the gold and silver colours stand for Oman’s wealth and silver artefacts – including the curved khanjar dagger, the national symbol which Oman Air’s livery previously featured.

Oman Air is the flagship carrier of the Sultanate of Oman and an Official 4 Star Airline (Skytrax 2011). Founded in 1993, the airline has since witnessed massive growth and has played a major role in making Muscat an important traffic hub in the Middle East, supporting the commercial, industrial and tourism sectors.
 
Currently Oman Air’s fleet consists of two Boeing 787 Dreamliners, six Airbus 330-300s, four Airbus 330-200s, five Boeing 737-900s, 18 Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 737-700, four Embraer 175s and an ATR 42. Four more Dreamliners will join the fleet in the following years. By 2018, Oman Air’s total fleet size is expected to be around 57 aircraft, rising to 70 aircraft by 2020.
 
Oman Air scooped four awards at the Oman Airports Management Company Second Annual Awards ceremony, on February 2015. The national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman was recognized as one of the top five airlines by number of passengers carried at Muscat International Airport. It also received an award as one of the top three airlines at Salalah International Airport, as well as receiving accolades in the Non-Aeronautical and Stakeholder of the Year 2014 categories.
 
Oman Air won two awards at the World Travel Awards Middle East 2015, where the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman came top in the ‘Middle East's Leading Airline - Business Class’ and ‘Middle East's Leading Airline - Economy Class’ categories. Oman Air was also named as the winner of the ’Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East’ award at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2015.
 
I tried and tested the regional Business Class seat on this short-haul flight from Kathmandu International Airport to Muscat International Airport on the Boeing 737-800NG aircraft.
 
Route: KATHMANDU (KTM) to MUSCAT (MCT)

Departure date and time of flight: August 2015, 09:30

Flight number: WY332 (Oman 332)
 
ATC Callsign: Oman

Flight duration: 3 Hours 50 minutes

Class: BUSINESS CLASS

Aircraft type: BOEING 737-81MNG (17 aircraft of this type in service)
 
Aircraft registration: A4O-BV
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 40068/LN:5160
 
First flight: 30th October 2014
 
Aircraft delivery date: 21st November 2014
 
Aircraft engine types: Two x CFMI CFM56-7B26E
 
Frequent flyer programme:
 
Sinbad is the official frequent flyer program. Click here to see more.
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Business Class: 12 angle flat seats in a 2-2 configuration
Economy Class: 150 seats in a 3-3 configuration
 
Punctuality of the flight/route taken:
 
This early morning flight departed from Kathmandu on time and landed on time on a ridiculously hot morning in Muscat. After departing Kathmandu, the flight made its way towards India, while providing stunning views of the Himalayas, and then went right over New Delhi- the closest I have got to being on Indian soil in 16 years…albeit from 40,000 feet. Then we went over Pakistan, leaving Karachi before making a straight in approach into Muscat.

Any baggage issues:
 
Unlike in most other countries where friends and/or relatives can go inside the terminal up to the security check point, at Kathmandu Airport, only passengers are allowed to go inside the terminal building. It is somewhat a pleasant experience because the terminal is not so crowded, and therefore the check-in process is quite an effortless and smooth affair. After checking in on the ground floor. The process from check-in to the lounge through the security takes around about 15 minutes.
 
Lounge experience at Kathmandu Airport:
 
Business and First Class passengers flying with Oman Air can use the lounge at Kathmandu Airport, located after security. On this instance, I was the only passenger in the lounge. There are plenty of options for food and beverages, and majority of the entertainment (TV and reading material) is either in Nepalese, English or Hindi (and most of it is either from India or Nepal). The lounge is a communal lounge that is shared by many airlines.
 
In-flight magazine: Wings of Oman is the in-flight magazine. Click here to read online PDF copies.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Passengers’ in Business Class are offered hot lemon scented towels prior to departure. This is followed by a drinks service, which consists of some of the world’s finest wines, and champagne. In Business Class, the cabin crew offer various kinds of drinks prior to departure:

• Fresh orange juice
• Mineral water
• Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne (founded in 1818)

 
I opted for the orange juice on this occasion. The welcome drink was served with fresh dates from Oman, and warm and sticky nuts.
 
Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
Around about 35 minutes after departure, drinks were served from the trolley, including freshly brewed coffee and also tea as well.
 
Comments regarding the breakfast meal:
  
I opted for a Western breakfast meal, which was ‘tomato and sautéed onion omelette red pepper sauce roasted wedges chicken sausage glazed asparagus’.
 
After the breakfast, standard tea and coffee with biscuits was served in bone china cutlery.  
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

Oman Air offers a variety of in-flight entertainment options, including video, audio and TV. Please click here to see more. On my flight, the IFE system did not work at all, which obviously was disappointing. However, it didn’t really matter much as it was a short flight. It would have been nice if the interactive map was working so that I could see where I was flying over but this was not working. No big deal. Otherwise, the flight experience was good.
 
The Oman Air Boeing B737-800NG cabin offers 12 Recaro-designed Business Class seats in a 2-2 configuration. Each seat features electric backrest/seat bottom, leg rest and seat depth controls, a 10.6-inch in-arm video screen, PC power outlet, USB port, reading light and literature pocket.
 
To complement this outstanding comfort and amenity, Oman Air has fitted the same Thales AVANT in-seat audio video on demand (AVOD) system in this short and medium haul aircraft as it has in its new long haul A330s.
 
Both the Oman Air’s new Airbus A330-300s and new Boeing B737s feature seats newly-designed by Zodiac Aerospace. Each offers exceptional comfort and features a one-piece composite seat back structure, a high seat back pivot and articulating bottom pan and a four-way adjustable headrest.
 
Seat pitches reflect the length of flights each aircraft are deployed upon, with the A330’s 265 seats offering 32 inches and the 737-900ER’s 171 seats offering 30 inches. A folding aisle-side armrest offers increased ease of access, and a sturdy, bi-fold, sliding food table makes a pleasure of in-seat dining or working.
 
Meanwhile, the 10.6-inch seatback LCD screen offers access to the same IFE options as those enjoyed in Business Class. A USB is mounted on the LCD screen that can be used to charge any mobile smart phone and each pair of seats shares a PC power port.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew appear to have been trained very well, and seem to know how to handle all kinds of situations. The trainers must have had everything thrown at them, ranging from rowdy passengers to those having a nervous breakdown. These people are amazing. They really do pamper you.
 
Now, I am not saying this because I was travelling in Business Class, but the crew were very friendly and hospitable to ALL the passengers, and showed a genuine smile whenever. Like I said before that I have not been on any of the South Asian carriers, and I have read horror stories of passengers experiencing delayed flights, bad customer service, blocked toilets etc. But, contrary to belief, I experienced none of that. The plane was very clean, the food was out of this world delicious, and the customer service was authentic, genuine and just awesome.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
The Business Class regional cabin is fitted with the spanking new fully angle flat seat, which has a pitch of 40 inches and a width of 21.
 
There is certainly plenty of space available. I had my camera bag (which is annoyingly big), plus my laptop (I seldom have to sleep on a daytime flight so I end up working!), AND my carrier bag. All of these were neatly stored before departure. Oh, there is also space for you to put your shoes during the long flight so you can sit like as if you are sitting on your sofa at home. There were plenty of in-flight magazines and newspapers (both Arabic and Western) for passengers.

There was no amenity kit provided for this short-haul regional flight.
 
Oman Air logo and livery: 
 
In 2008, Oman Air completely overhauled its livery, switching its base colour from red to turquoise blue and ditching the traditional khanjar dagger symbol in favour of a logo representing incense smoke. Oman Air chief executive Ziad Al-Haremi at the time unveiled the new livery at a ceremony in Muscat. The new identity follows the Omani Government’s decision to withdraw from Gulf Air and concentrate on developing Oman Air as the sultanate’s sole flag-carrier. The livery features a gold-and-silver swirl which is reminiscent of a swirl of smoke from the aromatic resin frankincense for which Oman is particularly renowned.
 
The turquoise colour represents the expanse of both the sky and the sea while the gold and silver colours stand for Oman’s wealth and silver artefacts – including the curved khanjar dagger, the national symbol which Oman Air’s livery previously featured.

Malaysia Airlines is the national flag carrier of Malaysia and is the largest airline in Malaysia based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The airline serves 60 destinations, both international and domestic. It is among the top 20 airlines in the world in terms of passengers carried and is also the top-ranked international cargo airline.
 
At the time of writing, Malaysia Airlines operates a fleet of 86 aircraft, including 6 Airbus A380 and 56 state-of-the-art Boeing 737NG aircraft.
 
This was the first time I flew with Malaysia Airlines. I was on the flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Kathmandu International Airport on Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 737-800NG to check out their Business Class seats!
 
Route: KUALA LUMPUR INTL. AIRPORT (KUL) to KATHMANDU (KTM)

Departure date and time of flight: 09:55am, August 2015

Flight number: MH170 (ICAO call sign: “Malaysian”)

Flight duration: 4h 50m

Class: BUSINESS CLASS

Aircraft type: BOEING 737-800NG (56 in service)
 
Unit cost of each Boeing 737-800NG: US$72.5 million (2015)
 
Aircraft registration: 9M-MSB (First flight 7th March 2013)
 
Engine Type: Two x CFMI CFM56-7B26
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 40144 LN: 4385
 
Frequent flyer programme:
 
Malaysia Airlines' frequent flyer programme is called Enrich by Malaysia Airlines (Enrich). Enrich comprises a variety of airlines, banks, credit-card issuers, hotels and retailers around the world.
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Business Class: 16 angle-flat seats in a 2-2 configuration
Economy Class: 150 seats in a 3-3 configuration
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed bang on time, and landed exactly on time in a hot and dry Kathmandu.
 
Any baggage issues:
 
No issues regarding the baggage. For Economy Class, Malaysia Airlines have a checked baggage allowance of 23 kg total for all routes excluding transatlantic routes, and upto 40kg for Business Class. All routes have a carry-on allowance of one piece not exceeding 7 kg (50x37x25 cm). Click here to see more details
 
Comments on the check-in staff and flight route:

The check-in staff were very professional and came across as well-trained. At Kuala Lumpur airport, Malaysia Airlines have a separate check-in for Business Class passengers. The flight departed on time and landed on time as well. 90% of the flight was over cloudy skies, and so on approach to Kathmandu, there was a slight glimpse of the Himalayas as we came in from Indian airspace.
 
Lounge Experience at Kuala Lumpur
 
The Golden Lounge is the airport lounge for Malaysia Airlines First Class, Golden Club Class passengers and Enrich Platinum and Enrich Gold, eligible Oneworld and code-share partner members. The Golden Lounges have open bars and food catering. There are 11 Golden Lounges throughout the world, and qualified passengers have full reciprocal privileges at lounges operated by selected partners. The lounge offers various services such as business centres, food catering, slumber rooms and child-care centres.
 
Lounges are maintained at the following airports: Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, London, Melbourne and Penang. In April 2008, the airline launched its new Regional Golden Lounge at the KL International Airport (KLIA) for regional-bound front-end passengers. With this new lounge, Malaysia Airlines at Kuala Lumpur International Airport now has three lounges: the Satellite International Terminal Lounge, Domestic Lounge and Regional Lounge. From 1 September 2015, Malaysia Airlines closed down lounges in Perth Airport and Singapore Changi Airport in order to cut and slash cost for their renationalisation.
 
The lounge was quite empty, with only a handful of passengers for the morning flights that were going out of KL.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Upon embarking the aircraft, passengers in Business Class and Economy Class were offered welcome drinks consisting of fresh orange juice, fresh apple juice, mineral water (champagne, wines in Business Class only). The cabin crew are truly one of the best trained I have met on any other airline. Customer comes first and Malaysia Airlines truly define the meaning of a five-star service. 
 
Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
Passengers in Business Class were offered a packet of fresh pretzels packed in Malaysia Airlines branded packets, and a choice of drinks from the trolley service. The cabin crew were polite and friendly. Even though this flight was full, the cabin crew paid full attention each and every customer instead of just passing the meal to passengers like they do on some other airlines. A warm and wet towel was handed out to Business Class passengers.
 
I just resorted to drinking plenty of bottled water. Though they may sound very tempting, however, alcohol and coffee are not good to drink during a flight as it just dehydrates you. Water is the best.
 
Comments regarding the first meal:

The main meal tray arrived at around 30 minutes after take-off from Kuala Lumpur. There were two options for the main meal:

1. Malaysia breakfast
2. Western breakfast

 
I opted for the Western breakfast. Cheese Omelette, which consisted of roasted new potato, chicken sausage, cherry tomato and mushroom.
 
Accompanying the main dish was a bowl of fresh seasonal fruit. For dessert, I had strawberry and lime charlotte. Malaysia Airlines serves their meals using stainless steel cutlery.

Comments regarding the after meal drinks and in-flight snacks:

Plenty of fresh water, coffee and tea are offered in lovely Malaysia Airlines branded bone china cups were offered.

Comments regarding the second meal:

None. There was no second meal.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

Almost all 737-800s have personal AVOd screens featuring a wide variety of music and audio options. All other 737-800s have standard audio options.
 
Almost all 737-800s have personal AVOD screens for all seats. Business Class has 10.6" screens while Economy Class has 9" screens. All other 737-800s have overhead screens. There is an 110v AC power outlet at every Business Class seat.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very hospitable, and proud to work for Malaysia Airlines. There was a genuine smile on every crew members face and you could tell that they really enjoyed their job. There was a real sense of teamwork in the cabin. As a customer (or passenger) it is easy to tell if the cabin crew are not getting along with each other (it does happen like any other job!), and on this flight I could see that everyone was in a joyous mood. If there was something I wanted or a question I had, then no one objected to it. Instead, they tried their best to help me as much as they could. The senior purser was just gem of a person. The whole flight experience was like magic, and everything seemed to go smoothly. So, yes the world can be ideal sometimes. I wrote about this flight here.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
Business Class (previously known as Golden Club Class) is available on all of Malaysia Airlines' fleet. In 2011, Malaysia Airlines introduced the new business class seats on their brand new Airbus A330-300. While newer regional business class seats were also introduced on the Boeing 737-800 to be used on short-medium haul routes such as Kota Kinabalu, Taipei and Manila. Seats made by Recaro within the business class cabin of new A330-300 are configured in pairs (2-2-2) layout, fitted with in-seat power and USB port, as well as new Select 3000i on a 15.4 inches touch screen panel, while the Boeing 737-800 are fitted in pairs (2-2) inclusive of the new Select 3000i and have recline ability. The first Airbus A330-300 carrying the new Regional Business Class was assigned to Kuala Lumpur - Brisbane sector on 20 April 2011. Starting April 2015, Malaysia Airlines introduced new Business Class seats, provided by Thompson Aero Seating, equipped with fully lie-flat seats for their A330 fleet. This will be in a staggered layout with alternate rows in the 1-2-2 and 1-2-1 configuration.
 
Meal tray table conveniently stowed in the armrest. Cocktail tables are available at the center armrest. Individual overhead reading lights. Seat cover: Woolen. Headrest cover: Linen. Seats are arranged in pairs (2-2).
 
Malaysia Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The original corporate logo was designed by Dato' Johan Ariff, and was introduced on 15 October 1987, retaining the essence of the moon kite, with a sheared swept-back look. Along with the new corporate logo, a new type style - MALAYSIA, was created. It is italicised to slant parallel with the logo to accentuate speed as well as direction. Within this corporate typestyle, the letters MAS bear red clippings to denote the initials of the statutory name of the airline, Malaysian Airline System (MAS), and were added after the original design was rejected by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. The introduction of blue to the original red logo has national significance. The red and blue divides equally in the middle to denote equilibrium. On 8 March 2012, Malaysia Airlines unveiled a new logo featuring an all-blue moon kite and livery for its Airbus A380 fleet. Months later, the corporate logo of red and blue was refreshed.
 
The new moon kite logo faces from left to right, as it did in the original 1971 logo, and its tails have been extended. The wordmark has also been modernised with a new typeface and the word "airlines" is now presented in lowercase. On 1st September 2015, Malaysia Airlines rebranded as Malaysia Airlines Berhad but for the time being remained to use the same logo and branding
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Malaysia Airlines is the national flag carrier of Malaysia and is the largest airline in Malaysia based on fleet size, international destinations and international flights. The airline serves 60 destinations, both international and domestic. It is among the top 20 airlines in the world in terms of passengers carried and is also the top-ranked international cargo airline.
 
At the time of writing, Malaysia Air operates a fleet of 86 aircraft, including 6 Airbus A380 and 56 state-of-the-art Boeing 737NG aircraft.
 
This was the first time I flew with Malaysia Airlines. I was on the flight from Hong Kong Chep Lap Kok Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 737-800NG to check out their Economy Class seats!
 
Route: HONG KONG (HKG) to KUALA LUMPUR INTL. AIRPORT (KUL)

Departure date and time of flight: 08:45am, August 2015

Flight number: MH79 (ICAO call sign: “Malaysian”)

Flight duration: 3h 55m

Class: ECONOMY CLASS

Aircraft type: BOEING 737-800NG (56 in service)
 
Unit cost of each Boeing 737-800NG: US$72.5 million (2015)
 
Aircraft registration: 9M-MXL (First flight 26th October 2012)
 
Engine Type: Two x CFMI CFM56-7B26
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 40139 LN: 4246
 
Frequent flyer programme:
 
Malaysia Airlines' frequent flyer programme is called Enrich by Malaysia Airlines (Enrich). Enrich comprises a variety of airlines, banks, credit-card issuers, hotels and retailers around the world.
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Business Class: 16 angle-flat seats in a 2-2 configuration
Economy Class: 150 seats in a 3-3 configuration
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed bang on time, and landed 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Was greeted with a final view of Shenzhen as we departed Hong Kong – quite a sad moment as the city means so much to me and I will no doubt miss living there.
 
Any baggage issues:
 
No issues regarding the baggage. For Economy Class, Malaysia Airlines have a checked baggage allowance of 23 kg total for all routes excluding transatlantic routes, and upto 40kg for Business Class. All routes have a carry-on allowance of one piece not exceeding 7 kg (50x37x25 cm). Click here to see more details
 
Comments on the check-in staff and flight route:

It is always a pleasure when flying from Hong Kong. The previous night I had stayed at the Hong Kong Regal Airport, voted one of the best airport’s in the world.
 
During approach into Kuala Lumpur, passengers have to contend with turbulence due to the localised hot air rising from the canopy. Kuala Lumpur airport is surrounded by lush green forests. We had a few bumps, and suddenly most of the passengers went “Ohhhh”. Considering that Malaysia Airlines unfortunately experienced two crashes in 2014, it was quite a tense moment indeed, where you think “Oh dear lord, I hope not this time!” I honestly thought that the turbulence was the cause of the sudden smoothing of the approach as their planes cross into the airport.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Upon embarking the aircraft, passengers in Business Class and Economy Class were offered welcome drinks consisting of fresh orange juice, fresh apple juice, mineral water (champagne, wines in Business Class only). The cabin crew are truly one of the best trained I have met on any other airline. Customer comes first and Malaysia Airlines truly define the meaning of a five-star service.
 
Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
Passengers in Economy Class were offered a packet of fresh pretzels packed in Malaysia Airlines branded packets, and a choice of drinks from the trolley service. The cabin crew were polite and friendly. Even though this flight was full, the cabin crew paid full attention each and every customer instead of just passing the meal to passengers like they do on some other airlines. I just resorted to drinking plenty of bottled water. Though they may sound very tempting, however, alcohol and coffee are not good to drink during a flight as it just dehydrates you. Water is the best.
 
Comments regarding the first meal:

The meal tray arrived at around 30 minutes after take-off from Hong Kong. There were two options for the main meal:
 

1. Malaysia spicy beef and rice
2. Fish with rice.

 
I opted for the fish with rice and vegetables. The food was fresh, and better than what you get on most other airlines in Economy Class. This is why Malaysia Airlines is different because they provide a fine dining experience in all classes of travel- one that is easily comparable to going to a five-star restaurant. You get what you pay for, and Malaysia Airlines does not fail.
 
Accompanying the main dish was a bowl of freshly cut salad with carrot shredding, tomato, cucumber and shredded lettuce all in one action packed bowl!). It’s ridiculously good to have some crunchy salad to accompany a slightly heavy yet tasty dish as I had. Orange juice and mineral water were provided by Malaysian company Spritzer.  
 
For dessert, Malaysia Airlines provided a bowl of sweet sago rice. In Economy Class, Malaysia Air still provides plastic cutlery to the passengers. 

Comments regarding the after meal drinks and in-flight snacks:

Plenty of fresh water, coffee and tea are offered in lovely Malaysia Airlines branded paper cups (that can be recycled) were offered.

Comments regarding the second meal:

None. There was no second meal.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

Almost all 737-800s have personal AVOd screens featuring a wide variety of music and audio options. All other 737-800s have standard audio options.
 
Almost all 737-800s have personal AVOD screens for all seats. Business Class has 10.6" screens while Economy Class has 9" screens. All other 737-800s have overhead screens. There is an 110v AC power outlet at every Business Class seat.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very hospitable, and proud to work for Malaysia Airlines. There was a genuine smile on every crew members face and you could tell that they really enjoyed their job. There was a real sense of teamwork in the cabin. As a customer (or passenger) it is easy to tell if the cabin crew are not getting along with each other (it does happen like any other job!), and on this flight I could see that everyone was in a joyous mood. If there was something I wanted or a question I had, then no one objected to it. Instead, they tried their best to help me as much as they could. The senior purser was just gem of a person. The whole flight experience was like magic, and everything seemed to go smoothly. So, yes the world can be ideal sometimes.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
Economy class is available on all of Malaysia Airlines' fleet. Seats feature a pitch of 33-34 inches and width of 17-17.25 inches, while the newer fleets such as the Airbus A380, Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 737-800 feature seat pitch of 30-32 inches and width of 17-17.5 inches. On the Boeing 777-200, it has a 6.5" personal TV located behind each seat, and a footrest located below the seat in front, the leased 737-800 has no personal TV but overhead TV's located in the aisles of the plane and feature a seat pitch of 29-30 inches. The new A330-300 as well as the new 737-800 all have the new Select 3000i. In 2010, economy class was voted the World's Best Economy Class at the 2010 World Airline Awards by Skytrax.
 
Seatback meal tray tables are available except in the front row which is an 'in-arm' table. Individual overhead reading lights. Seat cover: Woolen. Headrest cover: Paper disposable. Seats are arranged as 3-3.
 
Malaysia Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The original corporate logo was designed by Dato' Johan Ariff, and was introduced on 15 October 1987, retaining the essence of the moon kite, with a sheared swept-back look. Along with the new corporate logo, a new type style - MALAYSIA, was created. It is italicised to slant parallel with the logo to accentuate speed as well as direction. Within this corporate typestyle, the letters MAS bear red clippings to denote the initials of the statutory name of the airline, Malaysian Airline System (MAS), and were added after the original design was rejected by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad. The introduction of blue to the original red logo has national significance. The red and blue divides equally in the middle to denote equilibrium. On 8 March 2012, Malaysia Airlines unveiled a new logo featuring an all-blue moon kite and livery for its Airbus A380 fleet. Months later, the corporate logo of red and blue was refreshed.
 
The new moon kite logo faces from left to right, as it did in the original 1971 logo, and its tails have been extended. The wordmark has also been modernised with a new typeface and the word "airlines" is now presented in lowercase. On 1st September 2015, Malaysia Airlines rebranded as Malaysia Airlines Berhad but for the time being remained to use the same logo and branding
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Route: Chongqing International Airport to Shenzhen Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 17:20 on 10th August 2015 (delayed by five hours, and arrived at 2am into Shenzhen)

Flight number: QQ8141/CZ8141 (code share with China Southern, but using a Chongqing Airlines plane)

Flight duration: 45 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A321

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed around five hours late, and arrived at around 2am in Shenzhen
 
Top Tip: Try not to fly when you have a cold. I made the fatal mistake of doing so, and ended up with the worst ear blockage ever. As soon as we started our decent into Chongqing, my hearing just went, and with exceedingly painful results. The consequences were that I sought to get a doctor’s advice as soon as we landed in Chongqing- and that didn’t help either (because I had a cold). It also didn’t help that I had a connecting flight to Shenzhen the same evening, and two days after that I was due to fly to Kuala Lumpur, and then Kathmandu (high-altitude again!). The only solution was to go to the hospital in Shenzhen and get my ears cleared using sound therapy, and to take a dose of antibiotics throughout my time in Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu (before flying long-haul to London).

Any baggage issues:
 
I had a large backpack, weighing around 12kg, which I checked-in as hold luggage. This was the first time I had taken a trip with a backpack, and without much hand luggage.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

None

Comments regarding the first meal:

Just a bottle of water, and two plain buns.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

Selection of various drinks.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
 
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A321 aircraft has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. 

Route: Jiuzhaigou Huanglong Airport to Chongqing International Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 14:45 on 7th August 2015

Flight number: PN

Flight duration: 45 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A319

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time and landed in around 40 minutes. What was truly remarkable was the temperature change and the environmental change within such as short amount of time. From 2 degrees Celsius to just under 30 degrees Celsius. Jiuzhaigou is the third highest airport in China, with the elevation of the runway at around 3,500 meters above sea-level.
 
Top Tip: Try not to fly when you have a cold. I made the fatal mistake of doing so, and ended up with the worst ear blockage ever. As soon as we started our decent into Chongqing, my hearing just went, and with exceedingly painful results. The consequences were that I sought to get a doctor’s advice as soon as we landed in Chongqing- and that didn’t help either (because I had a cold). It also didn’t help that I had a connecting flight to Shenzhen the same evening, and two days after that I was due to fly to Kuala Lumpur, and then Kathmandu (high-altitude again!). The only solution was to go to the hospital in Shenzhen and get my ears cleared using sound therapy, and to take a dose of antibiotics throughout my time in Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu (before flying long-haul to London).

Any baggage issues:
 
I had a large backpack, weighing around 12kg, which I checked-in as hold luggage. This was the first time I had taken a trip with a backpack, and without much hand luggage.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

None

Comments regarding the first meal:

No food offered. Passengers could buy snacks if they wanted.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

None

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
 
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A319 aircraft has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too. It was not full at all. Not bad a flight after all. The crew were friendly, too.

Route: Chengdu International Airport to Jiuzhaigou Huanglong Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 14:45 on 7th August 2015

Flight number: 3U8607

Flight duration: 40 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A319

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time and landed in around 40 minutes. What was truly remarkable was the temperature change and the environmental change within such as short amount of time. From 30 degrees Celsius to just under 2 degrees Celsius. Jiuzhaigou is the third highest airport in China, with the elevation of the runway at around 3,500 meters above sea-level. The views of the Min mountains are truly spectacular. Worth for the short flight!
 
Top Tip: If you do come here and you have forgotten to bring your thermal jacket (it can be cold here in the summer, too, because of the high elevation, then don’t worry because high-quality thermal jackets are available at the arrivals hall. You can get a very nice jacket for around 70RMB (approx. £7, US$12)- I can guarantee that the same jacket, if sold in the UK for example, would be available for around US$60 at least.

Any baggage issues:
 
I had a large backpack, weighing around 12kg, which I checked-in as hold luggage. This was the first time I had taken a trip with a backpack, and without much hand luggage. Sichuan Airlines have their own dedicated terminal building at Chengdu Airport, and because the airport is so big, they have airport guides on roller-coasters and segways!

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

None

Comments regarding the first meal:

Just a bottle of water

Comments regarding the drinks service:

None

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
 
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A319 aircraft has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too. It was not full at all. Not bad a flight after all. The crew were friendly too.

Route: Zhangjiajie International Airport to Chengdu International Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 15:00 on 5th August 2015

Flight number: CA4378

Flight duration: 1 hour

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A320

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time and landed on time. Zhangjiajie airport is located on the banks of the enormous Tianmen Mountain and is surrounded by mountains from all corners. Zhangjiaje must be one of the most beautiful airports I have been to in China. Tianmen Mountain provides a magnificent backdrop, and on a clear day you can clearly see the peak summit (likewise, the airport and the surrounding area can be seen from the top of the mountain as well).

There is only one direct flight a week from Zhangjiajie to Chengdu. You can take connecting flights if you wish.

Any baggage issues:
 
I had a large backpack, weighing around 12kg, which I checked-in as hold luggage. This was the first time I had taken a trip with a backpack, and without much hand luggage.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

None

Comments regarding the first meal:

Just a bottle of water

Comments regarding the drinks service:

None

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
 
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A320 aircraft has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too. It was not full at all. Not bad a flight after all. The crew were friendly, too.

Route: Shenzhen Baoan International Airport to Zhangjiajie International Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 20:00 on 2nd August 2015

Flight number: CZ3991

Flight duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A320

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time and landed on time. Zhangjiajie airport is located on the banks of the enormous Tianmen Mountain and is surrounded by mountains from all corners. Coming into land at night is quite an experience for the passengers, and I am sure it is an experience for the pilots, too. The arrivals hall has no security…you get off the plane, and walk to the baggage carousel, collect your bag and off you go!  (China is safe, they say…and who’s going to attack a mountain resort!).

Any baggage issues:
 
I had a large backpack, weighing around 12kg, which I checked-in as hold luggage. This was the first time I had taken a trip with a backpack, and without much hand luggage.
 
Top Tip: If you are going to be travelling around China for a few days by yourself or even with your family, and if you don’t want to carry all that heavy luggage with you, then you can leave it with the concierge at most decent hotels (provided you are also going to be staying at that hotel!). I stayed at the Vienna Hotel in Shekou (sounds more glamorous than it is – but it does the job…complete with bed bugs!), and they let me to keep my four pieces of large luggage for a week for free. It was a massive weight off my shoulders, as that also contained my laptop. And for once in my life, I did not really dress up to fly (you have the make the effort, right?). Just a pair of track suit bottoms and a selection of quality t-shirts for the five days was sufficient for the trip. This trip to Zhangjiajie, Jiuzhaiguo and Chengdu was to hike and burn the calories and enjoy the single travelling experience. In order to prepare myself for the trip, I punished myself by hiking up Nanshan hill in Shenzhen every day for three-hours at a time to get my body in shape and ready for the hike.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
​
Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including tea and coffee. 

Comments regarding the first meal:

A box containing lots of biscuits in all shapes and sizes...as well as a pickle to put on the crackers (who eats crackers with pickles?)

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
 
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A320 aircraft has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too. It was not full at all. Not bad a flight after all. The crew were friendly, too.

British Airways is the national flag carrier of the United Kingdom, and operates full international and domestic scheduled air services for the carriage of passengers, freight and mail and the provision of ancillary services. British Airways operates to 183 destinations around the world with a fleet of 292 aircraft. British Airways are one of the world’s leading scheduled premium international airlines. Their main principal place of business is Heathrow, one of the world’s premier airport locations, which serves a large geographical area with a comparatively high proportion of point-to-point business. Operating one of the most extensive international scheduled airline route networks, together with our codeshare and franchise partners, British Airways flies to more than 300 destinations worldwide.

Route: LONDON HEATHROW (LHR) - HONG KONG (HKG)

Departure date and time of flight: June 2015, 18:30 local time (London)

Flight number: BA31 (ICAO callsign: “Speedbird 31 heavy”)

Flight duration: 11 Hours 45 minutes

Cabin: Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus)

Aircraft type: Airbus A380-841 (10 aircraft in service)
 
Aircraft registration: G-XLEG (First flight 24th April 2014)
 
Engines: Four x Rolls Royce Trent 970
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 161
 
Frequent flyer programme: Executive Club
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
First Class: 14 seats in a 1-1-1-1 configuration on the main deck
Club World (Business Class): 97 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration,
World Traveller Plus (Premier Economy Class): 55 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration
World Traveller Class (Economy Class): 303 seats in a 3-4-3 configuration

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight was on time, and landed in Hong Kong around ten minutes early. Having taken the route many times, I know it quite well.

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece. You click here to see British Airways’ requirements for baggage. Because I am an Executive Club member, therefore I was able to take two pieces of luggage of 32kg each.

Comments on the check-in:

Checked-in my three pieces of luggage at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, the base terminal for British Airways. There is no separate check-in for Premium Economy passengers, however, there are plenty of dedicated check-in counters for Economy Class passengers. The check-in process was very quick and smooth. From the moment I checked in my luggage to going through security took around 15-minutes.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Choice of drinks (standard- tea, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, lemonade or coca cola), and a selection of wines and Scotch whiskeys were offered along with a packet of “sour cream and chive” flavour pretzel nuggets. I opted to take the gin and tonic with the pretzels.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Dinner was served around an hour after take-off (around 19:45 local time in London), and our plane was around 25 miles west of Paris heading towards German airspace. Dinner consisted of chicken tikka masala served with vegetables and basmati rice. This was accompanied with a soft bread along with a bowl of giant couscous and white rice with lemon dressing. There was also a Chinese option, too (egg-fried rice).
 
For dessert there was a generous helping of mango and strawberry sauce (another option was the dark chocolate mousse with butterscotch sauce). All meals were generously served with a bottle of “Gleneagles mineral water”. Not a bad dinner before going to sleep on this long-haul flight (not to mention the rather long queue to the toilets so everyone can brush their teeth etc. before saying goodnightJ).

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal- this included the complimentary selection French and Australian red and white wine. I had to make the most of the food (OK, its only airline food), as I knew that this was perhaps the last British style food I would get for a long time. Western food in China is just not the same.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

For the overnight flight, passengers were able to help themselves to a selection of “Hobnob” chocolate biscuits and “Hotpot” noodles from the galley. There was also the selection of complimentary drinks on offer.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

Breakfast was served around an hour and half prior to landing at Hong Kong International. Our plane had just past Kunming in Yunnan Province and we were heading straight towards Guangdong. The flight took us over Guangzhou, then Zhongshan, Macau and then finally entering the Hong Kong Peninsula from the east to make a landing in from the south into runway 25L at Chep Lap Kok.
 
There was a choice of either a Western breakfast or a Chinese breakfast. I went for the former as I knew I would be eating a Chinese breakfast every day for the next few months! Nothing beats the feeling of eating microwave food at 37,000 feet (and yes, airline food is all heated an hour before serving- so it’s not fresh!). The sausages, bacon and scrambled eggs all tasted as if it was freshly cooked. I had ordered a special meal, so I got a fruit bowl (Dole). Breakfast was accompanied with hot tea, and coffee, as well as green tea.

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The in-flight system was working without any problems. This aircraft features AVOD (Audio Video on Demand) at every seat with 120 CD's and several radio programs, including the BBC. A USB and RCA interface is provided in each class, allowing passengers to play music or watch videos from their own entertainment device on their inflight television. Enhanced earphones are provided in First, Club World and World Traveller Plus. Headphones are also complimentary in World Traveller.
 
All seats have an 110V AC power port socket, which accept UK or US plugs. USB ports are also available at each seat.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

All 18 members of the cabin crew were very professional and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The Economy Premium seat on British Airways has a pitch of 38 inches and a width of 18.5- this is similar to the old Business Class seat, which is still available on some airlines which have older aircraft. This seat is perfect for busy professionals who don’t want to spend around £3,000 for a Business Class seat, and want to a bit more comfort than an Economy Class seat. The seat is spacious enough so that someone of a height of around 6 feet can have a comfortable rest for a long-haul journey.
 
Premium Economy passengers are provided with the same style of amenity kit bag, but one that contains a pen, and a better quality socks and eyeshades! I was provided a Club World amenity kit as well.

British Airways logo and livery: 
 
Based on the original logo, and design that featured on Concorde, the current British Airways logo was designed in 1997 by Newell & Sorrell. The colours are blue, and red. The additional colour is grey. All aircraft feature the word ‘BRITISH AIRWAYS’ in blue (British Airways uses its proprietary typefaces Mylius Sans and Mylius Serif, both designed by Rodney Mylius at Newell & Sorrell.), printed below the windows (and before the wing). On the 747 aircraft, the words appear above the main deck windows and just before the wing. Just before the cockpit windows and, at the front of the words, BRITISH AIRWAYS, there is a dash of the flag, which looks like an upside down tick. It starts with a navy blue, and the ‘flair’ of the logo is coloured in red.
 
The engines of all the aircraft are painted in a matching navy blue. The bellies of all British Airways aircraft are painted in royal navy blue. The tailfin consists of an elegant version of the national flag of the United Kingdom, The Union Jack. It gives the feeling of a flag flying on the tail. Overall, the British Airways logo portrays elegance, romance, flair, and a touch of true British patriotism. It’s easy to identify for passengers, and also Air Traffic Controllers.
  
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Route: Jinan Yaoqiang Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport

Departure date of flight: May 12, 2015, 10:00am

Flight number: MU5572

Flight duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A321 with Sharklets
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
This short-haul flight departed on time from Jinan.
 
Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- I only had hand luggage.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at check-in at Jinan Airport. The airport is relatively tiny compared to other airports in second and third tier Chinese cities.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Herbal Chinese tea, orange juice and some other drinks, including tea and coffee. 

Comments regarding the first meal:

For this short-haul flight, we were served with a couple of buns, including a muffin and a packet of dry roasted peanuts.
 
Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered before (orange juice and water), during, and after the meal. Plenty of milk, coffee, and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew seemed proud to work for China Eastern Airlines, and provide a very warm and friendly service.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

Economy Class seats have a pitch of 32 inches, and a width of 18 inches
First Class seats have a pitch of 38 inches, and a width of 21 inches (some aircraft an only Economy Class seating policy).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

SriLankan Airlines (marketed as SriLankan) is the national flag carrier of Sri Lanka. It is headquartered in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, with its hub at Bandaranaike International Airport. SriLankan operates directs flights to Asian, European and Middle East destinations along with its code share routes which include to destinations in USA, Oceania as well. It became a member of the Oneworld alliance in 2014.
 
SriLankan was established in 1978 as Air Lanka, following the termination of operations of the original Sri Lankan flag carrier Air Ceylon. Following its partial acquisition in 1998 by Emirates it was re-branded to "SriLankan" and introduced the current livery. After ending the Emirates partnership, it continues using its re-branded name and logo.
 
As of March 2015, SriLankan Airlines serves 96 destinations in 49 countries, including codeshares and remains the largest foreign carrier into the Maldives, with over 30 weekly flights between Male and Colombo. SriLankan Airlines currently operates 258 weekly flights to 33 destinations in 20 countries, covering the main cities of the Europe, Middle East, India, South East Asia and the Far East.
 
I tried and tested the new Business Class seat on this long-haul flight from Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport to London Heathrow Airport:
 
Route: COLOMBO (CMB) – LONDON HEATHROW (LHR)

Departure date and time of flight: May 2015, 12:50pm

Flight number: UL503 (Srilankan 503)
 
ATC Callsign: Srilankan

Flight duration: 11 Hours 50 minutes

Class: BUSINESS CLASS

Aircraft type: AIRBUS A330-343E (5 aircraft of this type in service)
 
Aircraft registration: 4R-ALN
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 1604
 
First flight: 28th January 2015
 
Aircraft delivery date: 26th March 2015
 
Aircraft name: City Of Kolomtota
 
Aircraft engine types: Two x Rolls Royce Trent 772B-60
 
Frequent flyer program: SriLankan FlySmiles Program
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Business Class: 28 flatbed seats with 180 recline in a 2-2-2 configuration
Economy Class: 269 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration
 
Punctuality of the flight/route taken:
 
I had come in from Singapore on SriLankan, and so this was a connecting flight onwards to London Heathrow. Every crew member says they dread this flight because it is so long (nearly 12 hours), and also placed at an awkward time – the whole of the 12 hours are spent in daylight because you take off at lunchtime Colombo time and land in the summer evening in London (daylight during the late Spring). The flight departed on time and arrived on time at Heathrow (thankfully there was no delay in holding over London). The flight flew over India, the Middle East, Turkey and then onwards Europe. I'm so glad I got the chance to fly over the Tabriz area, the legendary 'Secret Garden of Eden'...spectacular...mountains sticking out at 3,000 meters above sea level.
 
In his published work, Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation, David Rohl posts a location for the legendary Garden of Eden in Iranian Azerbaijan, in the vicinity of Tabriz upon which the Genesis tradition was based. According to Rohl, the Garden of Eden was then located in a long valley to the north of Sahand volcano, near Tabriz.

Any baggage issues:
 
I had my luggage checked in at Singapore Changi, so there was no need to worry about the baggage here. You can check here for more information in regards to the baggage requirements.
 
Lounge experience at Colombo International Airport:
 
SriLankan Airlines operate the Serendib Lounge for their Business and First Class passengers. The lounge can also be used by those travelling on flights with OneWorld Alliance partner airlines. The WiFi enabled lounge is well-managed, clean and there are plenty of options for food and beverages.  
 
In-flight magazine: Serendib is the in-flight magazine for Sri Lankan Airlines
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Passengers’ in Business Class are offered hot lemon scented towels prior to departure. This is followed by a drinks service, which consists of some of the world’s finest wines, and champagne. In Business Class, the cabin crew offer various kinds of drinks prior to departure:
 

• Fresh orange juice
• Mineral water
• Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne (founded in 1818)

 
I opted for a glass of champagne and a plate of cold canape. The cold canape consisted of cheese and salmon cutlets.
 
Comments Regarding The First Meal (Lunch):

For the first meal, a choice of four entrées were provided– all selected from a superb range of Asian and Western dishes.

Meals are served on a low trolley that gives the passenger an inviting eye-level choice of what's on offer and the airline is also introducing new food service items with a more Asian feel in their Business Class. All food in the Business Class cabins in SriLankan is served on elegant bone china tableware specially designed and exclusively produced by Noritake.
 
Starters:
 
Freshly prepared soup cream of mushroom with garlic French croutons
 
The soup was served with a selection of warm bread from the basket.
 
After the soup, we were served with an appetizer of:
 
Seafood terrine and poached lagoon prawns served on a bed of fennel, gourd and citrus salad accompanied by a coriander and chilli cocktail sauce
 
Very well-cooked. The prawns were skinless, and went very well with the lemon and sauce garnishing.
 
Main Course:
 
Lagoon prawn curry with steamed rice, brinjal moju, bitter gourd salad, cashew & pea curry, Malay pickle, papadams and fried chilli
 
This was served with endless amounts of warm bread from the basket.
 
Cheese & Dessert:
 
A selection of Blue d’Auvergne, red Leicester, Taleggio with cabernet paste
 
A selection of fresh seasonal fruit
 
A plate full of a trio of miniature sweet delights
 
Comments Regarding The Second Meal (Dinner):
 
Around about two hours before landing, we were served with dinner.
 
I opted for:
 
Sri Lankan marinated chicken skewer with devil sauce, mini tomato and seafood pizza topped with feta cheese accompanied with oats & herbs crumbed sausages & cheesy cantered risotto croquette with spicy tomato chutney & cucumber, onion & tomato salad
 
This was served with plenty of drinks, and warm bread from the basket, as well as, a plate of fresh seasonal fruit as dessert.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

This aircraft features AVOD (Audio and Video OnDemand) with every seat having access to a personal video screen, offering various audio programming options. There is a wide selection of movies, TV and music to choose from.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew appear to have been trained very well, and seem to know how to handle all kinds of situations. The trainers must have had everything thrown at them, ranging from rowdy passengers to those having a nervous breakdown. These people are amazing. They really do pamper you.
 
Now, I am not saying this because I was travelling in Business Class, but the crew were very friendly and hospitable to ALL the passengers, and showed a genuine smile whenever. Like I said before that I have not been on any of the South Asian carriers, and I have read horror stories of passengers experiencing delayed flights, bad customer service, blocked toilets etc. But, contrary to belief, I experienced none of that. The plane was very clean, the food was out of this world delicious, and the customer service was authentic, genuine and just awesome. From my experience, flying with SriLankan was no different to that of flying with Cathay Pacific, Emirates, and Qatar Airways. And the most important part of all? The cabin crew welcome the passengers by saying Namaste (palms clasped and head bowed), and also say a thank you in a similar fashion before landing. It is something that Western airlines can learn from. Trust me, believe me, I have come across some cabin crew on some of the best airlines in the world (Oman Air, Etihad, British Airways, KLM, Cathay Pacific to name a few), that have had an attitude problem of some sort or another with passengers (we all have our good and bad days), but the hospitality shown by the SriLankan crew was second to none. Just wonderful.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
The new Business Class regional cabin is fitted with the spanking new flatbed seat, which has a pitch of 77-79 inches and a width of 21 inches. It is a fully flatbed and provides a decent amount of sleep for the back. Very comfortable for a long flight. Unlike some other Business Class seats where the seat dips at the feet, this seat doesn’t – it is full flat and feels like a copy bed with your own privacy space to hide away under the warm quilt!
 
There is certainly plenty of space available. I had my camera bag (which is annoyingly big), plus my laptop (I seldom have to sleep on a daytime flight so I end up working!), AND my carrier bag. All of these were neatly stored before departure. Oh, there is also space for you to put your shoes during the long flight so you can sit like as if you are sitting on your sofa at home. There were plenty of in-flight magazines and newspapers (both Sri Lankan and Western) for passengers.
 
SriLankan also provide a luxury amenity kit bag on long-haul flights. Toothpaste by Colgate and a real proper toothbrush is provided. Luxury hand creams and moistening creams are provided by Crabtree & Evelyn.   
 
SriLankan logo and livery: 
 
The initial livery consisted of red stripes on a white fuselage, the tail being a solid red and sporting the corporate logo, a stylised peacock. This was the sole livery of the airline for nearly two decades, from 1979 to 1998. After SriLankan Airlines began a decade-long partnership with Emirates, the livery was changed into a much simpler one, with an all-white fuselage, covered by blue 'SriLankan' titles, and the tail adorned with the corporate logo.
 
Some aircraft have tourism advertisements on the rear part. In May 2014 an Airbus A330 in special Oneworld livery was delivered to commemorate the airline's establishment as an Oneworld member. Newly delivered aircraft are adorned with a blue under-belly bearing the tourism advertisement- "Visit Sri Lanka" in white.

Route: Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Jinan Yaoqiang Airport

Departure date of flight: May 11, 2015, 20.35

Flight number: SC1152

Flight duration: 1 hour 10 minutes

Cabin: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-800
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
This short-haul flight departed on time from Hangzhou.
 
Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- I only had hand luggage.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at check-in at Hangzhou Airport.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Herbal Chinese tea, orange juice and some other drinks, including tea and coffee. 

Comments regarding the first meal:

For this short-haul flight, we were served with a hot-meal (vegetarian option only- with tofu, rice and vegetables).
 
Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered before (orange juice and water), during, and after the meal. Plenty of milk, coffee, and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew seemed proud to work for Shandong Airlines, and provide a very warm and friendly service.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

Shandong Airlines fleet consists only of Boeing 737 aircraft, with a variety of new Boeing 737-700/800/900NGs. All of these aircraft come in the following configuration:
 
Economy Class seats have a pitch of 32 inches, and a width of 18 inches
First Class seats have a pitch of 38 inches, and a width of 21 inches (some aircraft an only Economy Class seating policy).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Route: Beijing Capital Airport to Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 22:00 on the 9 May, 2015
 
Flight Number: CA1708

Flight duration: 1 hour 55 minutes (delayed by two hours due to heavy traffic in Beijing)

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A320

Punctuality of the flight:
 
As is normally expected in Beijing, the flight was delayed by over two hours due to the traffic and the weather conditions en-route to Hangzhou. On top of that, out gate was also changed at the last minute without much information. It has become such as common occurrence that hardly anyone complains (and that, too, at an airport as Beijing, which is notorious for having delays and being part of bad weather conditions).

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

This was one of the last flights into Hangzhou Airport- we arrived at 2am…since the airport is way out of the city, so there are no night-time curfews (as is the case with most airports in China).
 
The journey from the airport to downtown Hangzhou (well, Binjiang) gets the taxi to be dragged along the empty, and sometimes dusty/rocky, roads. Instead of waiting for an official taxi, I decided to take the plunge and chose to accept an offer of 90RMB from a private taxi (normally, it should cost around 120RMB (£12, US$18). The private taxi may not match up UBER, but it had no seatbelts, and he drove at around 90mph in the dark lanes from the airport to my home in Binjiang in under 15 minutes (THAT would be deemed impossible with a normal metered taxi…it usually takes around 45 minutes on a normal day and around 30 minutes on an empty road).

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Drinks, excluding alcohol, included tea and coffee were served. The beautiful thing about flying with Air China domestically is that they are one of the few airline companies in China that offer sugar and milk powder separately.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Just a strawberry muffin and a simple bun was offered.
 
Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol was served, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea. Loved it.
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The IFE system was only activated once during this flight- prior to take off (for the safety demonstration). The PVT screens are not placed behind every seat but overhead.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were professional and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents. The level of English spoken was good, too. This was the last flight of the day for the crew (they, too, had been working since 5am (I started at around 4am)). If anyone thought the life of a pilot or cabin crew is one of luxury then you are wrong - well, it can be fun but they make it look fun and enjoyable- the reality is much more worse (just ask the cabin crew who work for Qatar Airways, for example).

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A321 aircraft for Air China has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all economy seat set up. The plane was very clean and had the latest IFE system installed. The staff were professional and could speak some adequate amounts of English.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10 

SriLankan Airlines (marketed as SriLankan) is the national flag carrier of Sri Lanka. It is headquartered in Katunayake, Sri Lanka, with its hub at Bandaranaike International Airport. SriLankan operates directs flights to Asian, European and Middle East destinations along with its code share routes which include to destinations in USA, Oceania as well. It became a member of the Oneworld alliance in 2014.
 
SriLankan was established in 1978 as Air Lanka, following the termination of operations of the original Sri Lankan flag carrier Air Ceylon. Following its partial acquisition in 1998 by Emirates it was re-branded to "SriLankan" and introduced the current livery. After ending the Emirates partnership, it continues using its re-branded name and logo.
 
As of March 2015, SriLankan Airlines serves 96 destinations in 49 countries, including codeshares and remains the largest foreign carrier into the Maldives, with over 30 weekly flights between Male and Colombo. SriLankan Airlines currently operates 258 weekly flights to 33 destinations in 20 countries, covering the main cities of the Europe, Middle East, India, South East Asia and the Far East.
 
I tried and tested the regional Business Class seat on this short-haul flight from Singapore Changi International Airport to Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport on the Airbus A321-200 aircraft:
 
Route: SINGAPORE (SIN) to COLOMBO (CMB)

Departure date and time of flight: May 2015, 09:45

Flight number: UL307 (Srilankan 307)
 
ATC Callsign: Srilankan

Flight duration: 3 Hours 50 minutes

Class: BUSINESS CLASS

Aircraft type: AIRBUS A321-231 (two aircraft of this type in service)
 
Aircraft registration: 4R-ABR
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 3636
 
First flight: 5th September 2008
 
Aircraft delivery date: 29th September 2014 (from Qatar Airways)
 
Aircraft engine types: Two x IAE V2533-A5
 
Frequent flyer programme: SriLankan FlySmiles Program
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Business Class: 16 angle flat seats in a 2-2 configuration
Economy Class: 153 seats in a 3-3 configuration
 
Punctuality of the flight/route taken:
 
This early morning flight departed from Singapore on time and landed on time on a hot morning in Colombo. After departing Singapore, the flight made its way over the south of Malaysia, and onto Thailand’s south-west coast before making a clear run towards Sri Lanka over the Andaman Sea. Spectacular lush green forests and tea plantations of this tiny, yet remarkably beautiful, culturally rich and vibrant country, can be seen very clearly from the air. It is a truly mesmerizing scene, and one that no one should miss if they ever fly over Sri Lanka.

Any baggage issues:
 
Checking in luggage at Singapore Changi is an easy and smooth affair. You can check here for more information in regards to the baggage requirements.
 
Lounge experience at Singapore Airport:
 
Business and First Class passengers flying with SriLankan Airlines use the Dnata Lounge at Singapore Changi Airport. The lounge is located at Level 3 after the departures security. There is plenty of food and beverages available. The area is reasonably clean and quite compact - though it does not feel as fresh and spacious as the one provided by some of the other airlines (Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific etc.). My advice is that if you don’t like sitting around doing nothing, then hand your belongings in to the staff at the lounge and go and explore the shopping areas at the terminal. Singapore Airport is a heaven when it comes to Duty Free shopping, as there are shops selling just about everything under the sun. Plus, you’ll never feel as if you are actually at an airport, because there are palm trees and other lish green placed around the airport. Therefore, it gives that feeling of being in a large shopping mall rather than at the airport- the only exception being you don’t people carrying luggage at a shopping mall.
 
In-flight magazine: Serendib is the in-flight magazine for Sri Lankan Airlines
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Passengers’ in Business Class are offered hot lemon scented towels prior to departure. This is followed by a drinks service, which consists of some of the world’s finest wines, and champagne. In Business Class, the cabin crew offer various kinds of drinks prior to departure:

• Fresh orange juice
• Mineral water
• Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne (founded in 1818)

 
I opted for the orange juice on this occasion. SriLankan have recently revamped their inflight product offering. The cabins give a very fresh and airy feeling once you are on-board, and everything, including the seats and the toilets are very clean as well.
 
Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
Around about 35 minutes after departure, drinks were served from the trolley.
 
There was also the celebrated SriLankan complimentary bar service for Business Class passengers, including various alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks. Ground coffee, and decaffeinated coffee or tea (English earl grey, Ceylon, and Chinese green tea) were also available. Tea was provided by well-known SriLankan company, Dilmah (naturally). The tea? This was the BEST tea I’ve had on a plane for a long time. I have never been on any of the other South Asian carriers (Air India, PIA, JetAirways or Biman), and maybe the Indian airlines provide a better tasting tea…but the cuppa I got on SriLankan was the best most authentic tea experience (really, it was!). If I was to fly somewhere and wanted my cup of tea then I would choose SriLankan any day.  
 
Comments regarding the breakfast meal:
 
Instead of eating a Western breakfast, I opted for a traditional and authentic dining experience for breakfast – a vegetarian dish
 
Vegetarian choice of aloo mutter masala and steward eggplant with tomato served with plain paratha. Very scrumptious, well-cooked, and prepared with love and affection to provide a truly authentic experience in the air. I can say that I tasted the BEST South Asian in-flight meal ever. The chefs really know how to create a top quality dining experience in the air.
 
Accompanying the main dish was a bowl of thick and delicious natural yogurt, a bowl of fresh seasonal fruit, and a selection of warm bread from the basket.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

This aircraft features AVOD (Audio and Video OnDemand) with every seat having access to a personal video screen, offering various audio programming options. There is a wide selection of movies, TV and music to choose from.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew appear to have been trained very well, and seem to know how to handle all kinds of situations. The trainers must have had everything thrown at them, ranging from rowdy passengers to those having a nervous breakdown. These people are amazing. They really do pamper you.
 
Now, I am not saying this because I was travelling in Business Class, but the crew were very friendly and hospitable to ALL the passengers, and showed a genuine smile whenever. Like I said before that I have not been on any of the South Asian carriers, and I have read horror stories of passengers experiencing delayed flights, bad customer service, blocked toilets etc. But, contrary to belief, I experienced none of that. The plane was very clean, the food was out of this world delicious, and the customer service was authentic, genuine and just awesome. From my experience, flying with SriLankan was no different to that of flying with Cathay Pacific, Emirates, and Qatar Airways. And the most important part of all? The cabin crew welcome the passengers by saying Ayubowan (palms clasped and head bowed....Ayubowan means 'May You Live Long'), and also say a thank you in a similar fashion before landing. It is something that Western airlines can learn from. Trust me, believe me, I have come across some cabin crew on some of the best airlines in the world (Oman Air, Etihad, British Airways, KLM, Cathay Pacific to name a few), that have had an attitude problem of some sort or another with passengers (we all have our good and bad days), but the hospitality shown by the SriLankan crew was second to none. Just wonderful.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
The new Business Class regional cabin is fitted with the spanking new fully angle flat seat, which has a pitch of 45 inches and a width of 20.
 
There is certainly plenty of space available. I had my camera bag (which is annoyingly big), plus my laptop (I seldom have to sleep on a daytime flight so I end up working!), AND my carrier bag. All of these were neatly stored before departure. Oh, there is also space for you to put your shoes during the long flight so you can sit like as if you are sitting on your sofa at home. There were plenty of in-flight magazines and newspapers (both Sri Lankan and Western) for passengers.

There was no amenity kit provided for this short-haul regional flight.
 
SriLankan logo and livery: 
 
The initial livery consisted of red stripes on a white fuselage, the tail being a solid red and sporting the corporate logo, a stylised peacock. This was the sole livery of the airline for nearly two decades, from 1979 to 1998. After SriLankan Airlines began a decade-long partnership with Emirates, the livery was changed into a much simpler one, with an all-white fuselage, covered by blue 'SriLankan' titles, and the tail adorned with the corporate logo.
 
Some aircraft have tourism advertisements on the rear part. In May 2014 an Airbus A330 in special Oneworld livery was delivered to commemorate the airline's establishment as a Oneworld member. Newly delivered aircraft are adorned with a blue under-belly bearing the tourism advertisement- "Visit Sri Lanka" in white.

Route: Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Beijing Capital Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 07:30 on the May 9, 2015, 2015
 
Flight Number: MU5131

Flight duration: 1 hour 55 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Airbus A320

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

This was one of the first flights out of Hangzhou Airport. As opposed to the big airports in China, Hangzhou airport is relatively quieter in the mornings. Because this was an early morning flight, I had to take a taxi from Binjiang District (around a 30-minute drive away in the southern part of Hangzhou), and if you are not connected through an app with the Kwai Didi (mobile app used to call for a taxi), then it is almost impossible to get a taxi in the morning. All the roads around the outskirts of the town are empty…not a whisker in sight (kind of reminded me of my time when I used to live in Suzhou- you could end up waiting for an hour or more for a taxi!). The taxi fare from downtown Hangzhou to the airport is around 120RMB (£12, US$18), any more than that, then you know you’ve been conned!
 
The journey from downtown Hangzhou to the airport gets the taxi to be dragged along the empty, and sometimes dusty/rocky, roads. Keep the window open and try to breathe the ‘fresh’ air if you can!

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Drinks, excluding alcohol, included tea and coffee were served. The beautiful thing about flying with China Eastern is that they are one of the few airline companies in China that offer sugar and milk powder separately.

Comments regarding the first meal:

A delicious helping of pork and congee (hot meal) was served straight after take-off. This was accompanied with a tray containing an orange slice, a simple empty bun and a slice of ham, along with two seeded-olives.
 
Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol was served, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea. Loved it.
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

The IFE system was only activated once during this flight- prior to take off (for the safety demonstration). The PVT screens are not placed behind every seat but overhead.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were professional and polite. Just a normal flight, without any incidents. The level of English spoken was good, too.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

This Airbus A321 aircraft for China Eastern has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all economy seat set up. The plane was very clean and had the latest IFE system installed. The staff were professional and could speak some adequate amounts of English.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best):10 

Route: Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Hong Kong Airport (Chep Lap Kok)

Departure date and time of flight: 08:10am in May 2015
 
Flight number: HX129

Flight duration: Two hours 15 minutes

Cabin: BUSINESS CLASS

Aircraft type: Airbus A320-214
 
Aircraft registration: B-LPL
 
Aircraft serial number: 6003
 
Engines: Two x CFMI CFM56-5B4/P
 
First flight: 28/02/2014
 
Airline callsign: Bauhinia
 
Loyalty program: Fortune Wings Club

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time from Hangzhou. For me, it was a bit of a sad feeling because this was my last flight out of Hangzhou, and I was not sure when I will return. The Business Class lounge at Hangzhou is shared by many international airlines, including KLM, Qatar Airways, Eva Air, Thai Airways and many others that fly direct to this beautiful city. Hangzhou has been a city that is close to my heart and I will no doubt miss it a lot. But, for me the time had come to personally move on and go back to the UK for personal reasons.
 
The nice thing about the flight was that as we departed, I was presented with some of the best views of the city that has effectively ben my hoe for the past year. I could clearly see West Lake and Binjiang District, as we made our way towards south of China and towards Hong Kong.

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues. In Business Class each passenger can carry up to three pieces weighing a total of 30KG.

Comments on check-in and any issues:

The check-in staff at Hong Kong Airport were polite, and very professional. There was no problem what so ever.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Business Class passengers were offered a choice of champagne, orange juice, tomato juice, and apple juice out of a hand tray service provided by the crew members. A choice of either sparkling or still mineral water is also offered. 
 
All Business Class passengers are handed out hot hand towels just prior to the meal service. The towels have a lemon scent.

Comments regarding the first meal:

Passengers in Business Class are offered a detailed dinner menu (the same menu is provided for flights leaving around lunch time as well).
 
Main course:
 
There were two choices for the main dish. These included:

• Stir fried beef and bean curd sheet with satay sauce with vegetable rice and Chinese vegetables,
• Grilled chicken with red wine sauce with roasted parsley potato, with western vegetables

 
I opted for the grilled chicken – poultry always tastes better as airplane food because it does not lose its taste even at high altitude in a pressurised cabin. The chicken breast had a generous covering layer of the tomato concasse, which made the meat melt in the mouth with each bite. This dish was not just about the chicken but also about those lovely boiled baby carrots and vegetables (which were fresh, unlike in some other airlines were you get some food that has been in the freezer for the past three days or something!). A neat sprinkling of salt and pepper goes fine with the meal (both are provided in small 3D square ceramic cubes that have the Hong Kong Airlines logo on them (the lotus flower). The main meal was provided with a selection of bread rolls and pastries from the bread basket.
 
Dessert:
 
Pistachios and coconut cream cake.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. This included coffee and tea (green tea and black tea).  

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

Plenty of offerings of tea and coffee throughout the short flight.

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

On the Airbus A320-214, Hong Kong Airlines provides a mobile 10.6 inch PTV screen in Business Class and a 10.6 screen in Economy Class as well. Economy Class seats have the screens embedded at the back of the seats while passengers in the Business Class cabins have their screens neatly tucked away in the armrest and can be pulled out wherever you want. A330-300 and A330-200V feature 15.5” TV monitors, and the A330-200 features 10.5” TV monitors for your viewing pleasure.  
 
Noise cancellation headphones are provided to every passenger in Business Class, and normal headphone are provided in Economy Class. In Business Class there is also the provision of purple slippers and a cotton blanket.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The staff were very proud of their brand image and represented their airline at the highest level possible. When under a situation of high pressure, the staff seemed to act with professionalism and integrity.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

Hong Kong Airlines has an emerging brand that is beginning to be globally recognised. For A320-214, Business Class cabin accommodates eight passengers in a 2-2 seat design, while Economy Class cabin caters for 259 passengers in a 3-3 setting.
 
The seats in Economy Class on the Airbus A320-214 have a pitch of 32 inches recline, and are 17.5 inches wide.
 
Business Class seats on the Airbus A320-214 have a pitch of 60 inches recline, and are 20 inches wide.
 
All the Business Class seats come standard with a plug for laptop or mobile phone (though you can only recharge the mobile phone but you cannot use it!), and an inbuilt massage system (the seat vibrates), Hong Kong Airlines are very proud of their brand image and have encrusted the lotus lower logo onto every product that they have on the aircraft. Lovely purple and red colours adorn the seats and the interior of the cabins.

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

United Airlines (UA) is an international award-winning scheduled airline registered and based in Chicago, U.S. United Airlines serves 375 with a well-developed Asian network. The airline serves a number of gateway cities in North America and Europe, with easy connections with its Star Alliance and codeshare partners, Singapore Airlines between Singapore and the U.S. via either Hong Kong or Tokyo. The airline employees over 84,000 people. United operates out of nine airline hubs located in Houston, Chicago, Newark/New York, Denver, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Guam, and Tokyo.
 
Route: HONG KONG (HKG) to SINGAPORE CHANGI AIRPORT (SIN)

Departure date and time of flight: May 2015, 21:55

Flight number: UA895 (United 895 heavy)
 
ATC Callsign: United

Flight duration: 3 Hours

Class: BusinessFirst Class

Aircraft type: BOEING 777-224ER (55 aircraft of this type in service)
 
Aircraft registration: N78001
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 1222
 
First flight: 8th November 1998
 
Aircraft name: Gordon M. Bethune
 
Aircraft delivery date (from Continental to United): 27th November 2010
 
Aircraft engine types: Two x GE GE90-92B
 
Frequent flyer program:
 
MilagePlus is the frequent flyer program from United Airlines. You can click here to find more details.
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Global First Class: 8 open suites with 180 degrees recline (1-1-1-1 configuration)
BusinessFirst Class: 40 flatbed seats with 180 degrees recline (2-4-2 configuration)
Economy Plus Class: 110 standard seats with 5.0 recline in a 3-3-3 configuration,
Economy Class: 108 standard seats with 4.0 recline in a 3-3-3 configuration
 
Economy Plus is offered on this aircraft type. Economy Plus is not a separate class of service but is standard economy with up to 5 inches of extra legroom. These seats are located nearer to the front of the aircraft and passengers in this section are served first. Charges for these seats will depend on routing and may be purchased at the time of booking or check-in.
 
Punctuality of the flight/route taken:
 
The flight departed on time, and landed on time in Singapore, providing nice views across over Vietnam and Malaysia as we made our way to the tiny city-state.

Any baggage issues:
 
Since this was a connecting flight (I had flown in from Hangzhou to Hong Kong, and was on my way to Singapore, so I did not need to check-in at Hong Kong). You can read more about the baggage rules regarding United here.
 
Lounge experience at Hong Kong:
 
United has a dedicated Club Lounge at Hong Kong airport, located on the 2nd floor after security check. The lounge provides panoramic views across to the departures hall and to the tarmac. The lounge is not as flamboyant as other lounges provided by airlines outside of their home bases0, say for example, the ones provided by the likes of Emirates, Etihad or Qatar Airways; however, it does provide all the creature comforts including showers, and food & drinks.
 
In-flight magazine:

Hemisphere is the in-flight magazine of United Airlines.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Passengers’ in BusinessFirst Class are offered hot lemon scented towels prior to departure. This is followed by a drinks service, which consists of some of the world’s finest wines, and champagne. In BusinessFirst Class, the cabin crew offer five kinds of drinks prior to departure:

• Fresh orange juice
• Mineral water
• Billecart-Salmon Brut Champagne (founded in 1818)

 
Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
Around about 35 minutes after departure, drinks were served from the trolley along with the helping of the huge Macadamia nuts, and salted almonds on bone china plates. I opted for another glass of that fine Champagne (Billecart-Salmon Brut), and also the piper-heidsieck Brut.
 
Comments regarding the first meal:

For the first meal, a choice of four entrées were provided– all selected from a superb range of Asian, Middle Eastern and Western dishes.

Meals are served on a low trolley that gives the passenger an inviting eye-level choice of what's on offer and the airline is also introducing new food service items with a more Asian feel in their BusinessFirst Class. All food in the BusinessFirst Class cabins in United Airlines is served on elegant bone china tableware specially designed and exclusively produced by Narumi of Japan.
 
Starters:
 
Mixed salad with French vinaigrette
 
Main Course:
 
The only option available for this short-haul 3-hour flight was chicken with rice and vegetables. It was a delicious meal, served complete with bread rolls from the basket, and a small pot of mango sorbet.
 
Cheese & Dessert:
 
A selection of Blue d’Auvergne, red Leicester, Taleggio with cabernet paste
 
A selection of fresh seasonal fruit
 
New York Cheesecake
 
Comments regarding the after meal drinks and in-flight snacks:

A second round of drinks was offered after the meal. This included coffee and tea (green tea and earl grey tea). I ordered a cup of coffee. Should any passenger want wine or champagne (even if it is the morning!), then these drinks are served in exclusively designed glassware.

Comments regarding the second meal:

None
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

An AC power port is located at each seat in Global First and BusinessFirst, there are two outlets for each set of triple seats and one outlet for each set of double seats in Economy.
 
You can click here to read more.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

Majority of the crew on this flight were locally based in Hong Kong or Singapore. However, there were a few exceptions. One of the male flight attendants in the BusinessFirst Class cabin seemed to be very tired. He looked to be around in this 50s, and was clearly tired and perhaps overworked? What was not pleasing was seeing him go to sleep on a passenger seat next to the galley (no, it was not a crew rest seat). It came clear to me that the rest of the crew were trying their best to make sure that he did not present a bad image to the airline. Other than that the crew were very professional. It clearly came across to me that the cabin crew of Asian origin were beautiful very friendly and customer oriented and young.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
BusinessFirst is offered on all wide-body aircraft (with the exception of domestically configured 777-200s), as well as all internationally configured Boeing 757-200s. BusinessFirst passengers check in at separate counters and can use priority security screening where available. In-flight service includes pre-departure beverages, table linens and multi course meals designed by United's Congress of Chefs on international flights.
 
Passengers are also given priority with boarding and baggage handling and access to the United Club and other airline lounges. The longest domestic routes (such as the 9-10 hour long flights from the East Coast to Hawaii) utilize BusinessFirst equipped aircraft, however these flights are sold as United First but do not allow for complimentary premier upgrades. All BusinessFirst seats recline 180 degrees into a full, flat bed. On all 747 aircraft and legacy United aircraft (registration ending in -UA), the seats alternate facing forward and backwards.
 
On legacy Continental aircraft, and on all 787 aircraft, all seats face forward. Other domestic routes, especially hub-to-hub service and certain non "United p.s." transcontinental flights regularly see internationally configured aircraft with BusinessFirst (and sometimes GlobalFirst) for operational reasons (such as transferring international aircraft from one hub to another). While the physical seats and entertainment are the same as on international flights, the service, catering and other amenities are the same as in domestic first class. Unlike routes marketed as "BusinessFirst" and United p.s., these flights are eligible for complimentary premier upgrades.
 
United Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The pre-merger United logo, commonly nicknamed the "tulip", was first developed in the early 1970s after the airline commissioned designer Saul Bass to develop a new brand image. The logo skilfully represented the airline's monogram as well as a modernized version of the airline's shield logo, which had been adopted in the 1930s, but fell out of use by the late 1960s. The ribbon-like rendering has also been said to symbolize the motion of flight.
 
The Saul Bass livery was updated in 1988 to feature larger lettering on the fuselage, with the rainbow stripes on the side moved down to accommodate the new space.
 
The next livery update came in the early 1990s: the CKS Group-designed "Battleship", a grey fuselage with dark blue underbelly and engines, with blue stripes on the vertical stabilizer, a smaller "tulip" on the vertical stabilizer A smaller, more refined version of the rainbow stripes from the previous livery were incorporated as well. This livery debuted on January 11, 1993. In 2004, the Pentagram-developed "Rising Blue" livery featured a white and lighter blue fuselage, along with a cropped version of the tulip on the tail. In 2011, the newly merged United adopted Continental Airlines' 1991 logo, including the Continental globe, which had replaced the Tulip in the 1970s. The current United livery consists of a white upper fuselage, with a gold globe on a blue tailfin, and a gray underbelly. All mainline aircraft are now painted in this livery, save for the airframes listed in special liveries below, which include two retro liveries. Boeing 787 Dreamliners use a modified version of the livery, with a wavy gold stripe painted along both sides of the fuselage.

This airline has a long way to go when it comes to providing excellent customer service. They really need to learn from the likes of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways if they want to be the best (unless, of course, you have the likes of Donald J. Trump managing the airline, then they're not going to get anywhere). 

Route: Shenzhen Boa’an Airport to Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 11.50am, May 2015

Flight number: ZH9963 (ICAO callsign: “Shenzhen Air 9963”)

Flight duration: 2 Hours 10 minutes

Class: FIRST CLASS

Aircraft type: AIRBUS A320-232 (70 in service)
 
Aircraft registration: B-1841 (First flight 26th May 2014)
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 5986
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
First Class: 8 seats in a 2-2 configuration on the main deck
Economy Class: 150 seats in a 3-3 configuration
 
Comments on check-in:

Located 32 kilometres in the northwest of Shenzhen, Boa’an International Airport is one of the largest airports in the world, however not busy because the majority of flights are domestic (you can fly to Mauritius with China Southern and a few other exotic destinations, mostly on charter flights). In 2014, the airport handled over 36.2 million passengers; the airport is able to accommodate the largest aircraft in the world, the Airbus A380.
 
The first thing you notice as you enter the terminal is how huge it is. It makes Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport look like a miniature model toy kit.
 
There were no issues regarding the baggage. Passengers travelling First Class with Shenzhen Airlines are allowed a generous 40kg free of charge, and 30 kg (66 lbs) for Business Class. For domestic flights, each piece of checked baggage must not exceed 50 kg (110 lbs). Shenzhen Airlines has a separate dedicated check-in, and a separate security customs from all the other airlines at Shenzhen Bao’an Airport.
 
LOUNGE EXPERIENCE at Shenzhen Airport:
 
Shenzhen Airlines have their own premium lounges dotted around the airport, after security. The lounge can be used by Business and First Class passengers, as well as silver and gold members of the Shenzhen Airlines loyalty program. The lounge has sufficient space for buffet food (Chinese only), comfortable relaxing chairs, electric massage chairs, and a small cinema (25 seats maximum). There are also shower facilities available in all the lounges. There are many options for hot and cold Chinese food and Western food.
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed on time, and landed on time at Hangzhou. Shenzhen Bao’an Airport was not as busy as I would have imagined. Understandably, Shenzhen is not really a touristy city (it is for work), and the added fact that Hong Kong Airport is just a stone’s throw away – on a clear day you can easily see planes taking off and landing at Hong Kong Airport from Shenzhen.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Hot and cold towels were offered prior to departure in the First Class cabin. First Class passengers are offered a selection of drinks including champagne, apple juice, orange juice and a variety of teas (Chinese and Western). The cabin crew took the orders for the lunch service from all the passengers in the First Class cabin prior to departure.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
The meal service commended with air hostesses handing out hot towels. A selection of fine nuts was offered along with a choice of drink (orange juice, apple juice, and a selection of teas).
 
Comments regarding the main meal:

There were two options for the main hot dish meal:

• Dimsum
• Beef with rice

 
I opted for the traditional Cantonese Dimsum, and vegetables. The Dimsum came with a dumplings (both pork dumplings and noodles). There was also a small plate of creaser salad with seasoning sauce, and a bowl of fresh fruit salad.
 
It was also a nice thing to see a warm cheesecake being served with the main meal.
 
Delicious soft and hard bread rolls were offered from the basket (including garlic bread!). All meals were served on fine bone china, and came with Shenzhen Airlines chopsticks, and Shenzhen Airlines branded stainless steel cutlery.
 
Comments regarding the after meal drinks and in-flight snacks:

Hot and cold drinks were served after the main meal. These included Chinese and Western tea options, as well as soft drinks.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

This Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A320-200 aircraft has no individual TV screens (not even in First Class), only the small screens that pop out for the pre take-off safety video.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very professional and friendly. Most of the cabin crew for Shenzhen Airlines are natives of the Guangdong Region in China (this is especially true for the cabin crew in First Class or Business Class cabins). The airline management is very particular on how their cabin crew staff should be like. They have to be of a certain weight, and height, and must be acquainted to beauty with a smile (this is what I was informed!). Most of the cabin crew do speak good English (especially those in Business/First Class).  

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
The First Class seats have 58-inch pitch and 20-inch width. The Economy Class seats have a 32-inch pitch, and an 18 inch width. First Class seats feature a reclining angle of 170 degrees. For such a short domestic flight, passengers were offered a pair of luxury cotton slippers, and a thick cotton blanket. The cabin had a pleasant smell, and was very clean. All of the eight seats in the First Class section are covered with a luxury red clothing that comes embedded with the company logo. It creates a sense of comfort, elegance, and belonging to the Chinese culture. It also gives a very warm, fresh, spacious, modern, and touching feeling when you enter the cabin.
 
Shenzhen Airlines have improved quite a lot on most aspects of their aircraft interior. This includes the aircraft seating, the smell of the interior cabin, the cleanliness of the aircraft toilets, and the general positive attitude of the cabin crewmembers. The aircraft which we flew was the latest new aircraft for Shenzhen Airlines.
 
Shenzhen Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The back part of the livery is red, with the front half white. Shenzhen Airlines have recently made a change to make the red area longer, which works well in theory, but in practice it has caused problems with being able to read their titles. The paint scheme puts the airline’s name partially on the white, but also partially on the red and gold striping.
 
The tail sports the “National Roc.” According to the airline’s website this is “the totem aggregating the traditional and modern Chinese cultures. The design is harmonious and the colors of red and gold are gloriously lined with one on the other, agglomerating the soul of the oriental culture. Tallness and straightness, fullness of vitality, are the reflection of progress and prompt response.”
 
I remember when I first arrived in China in 2002, Shenzhen Airlines had a livery consisting of a green tail-fin with an arrow inside a white circle.
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Route: Hangzhou International Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun International

Departure date and time of flight: 08:20am on 26 April, 2015

Flight number: CZ3820

Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-700

Punctuality of the flight:
 
The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including tea and coffee. 

Comments regarding the first meal:

A box containing a simple bun, bread roll with pickles, an orange slice and a packet of apple crisps

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No Alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None
 
Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None
 
Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The 737-700 plane has a seat configuration of 3-3 with an all Economy Class seat set up. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too. It was not full at all. Not bad a flight after all. The crew were friendly too.

PAL Express, formerly Air Philippines or Airphil Express, is an airline operating under the business name of Air Philippines Corporation. It operates domestic and international scheduled services from Manila, Cebu, Davao City and Zamboanga. The airline has been re-branded a number of times, first as Air Philippines, then Airphil Express, and is now known as PAL Express. After a series of financial losses, Air Philippines ceased operations until it was acquired by investors from Philippine Airlines. After the acquisition, the airline was re-launched as PAL Express, operating some routes and slot assignments of its sister company Philippine Airlines until management decided to re-brand the carrier as a budget airline known as Airphil Express. However, in March 2013, the company's CEO announced that the name would revert to PAL Express. As a codeshare partner of Philippine Airlines, PAL Express operates as a full service carrier within a low-cost model.
 
PAL Express is Philippine Airlines' answer to Cebu Pacific Air's dominance in the low-cost travel market in the Philippines. It has allowed PAL to focus on the premium market, where domestically PAL does not have competition. Airphil Express gained a significant increase in passengers following its launch as a low-cost carrier. The airline is currently in fleet acquisition model to support its planned domestic and international route expansion plan. Airphil Express currently holds the no. 3 position among Philippine-based airlines, with 19% market share.
 
The Dash-8 aircraft is used for domestic routes, especially to the smaller island airports. I took this flight from Boracay’s Caticlan Airport to Manila.
 
Route: CATICLAN AIRPORT- MANILA AQUINO INTL. AIRPORT

Departure date and time of flight: April 2015, 09:30

Flight number: PR2040 (ICAO callsign: “AirPhil 2040”)

Flight duration: 40 minutes

Cabin: FIESTA ECONOMY CLASS

Aircraft type: Dash 8-300 (9 in service)
 
Aircraft registration: RP-C3017
 
Engine Type: Two x PWC PW123
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 657
 
Frequent flyer programme: Mabuhay Miles
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Economy Class: 76 seats in a 2-2 configuration

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues regarding the baggage. For First and Business Class, Philippine Airlines have a checked baggage allowance of 40 kg and 30 kg total respectively for all routes excluding transatlantic routes. Economy Class passengers can take 23kg in the hold. All routes have a carry-on allowance of one piece not exceeding 7 kg (50x37x25 cm).
 
Comments on the check-in:

I arrived around an hour early for check-in at the quiet and tiny. It is a tiny building, with the departures and arrivals all in one room. On one side are the taxis waiting to take passengers to the Island, and on the other side are planes. The runway and the terminal are surrounded by lush green.
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed bang on time and we landed in Manila around five minutes early due to low air traffic in the area. The taxi from the runway to the airport terminal building is quite a long one.
 
Comments regarding the meal:

Just a packet of crackers, and a bottle of water.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

None
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very hospitable, and proud to work for Philippine Airlines. There was a genuine smile on every crewmembers face and you could tell that they really enjoyed their job. There was a real sense of teamwork in the cabin. As a customer (or passenger) it is easy to tell if the cabin crew are not getting along with each other (it does happen like any other job!), and on this flight I could see that everyone was in a joyous mood. If there was something I wanted or a question I had, then no one objected to it. Instead, they tried their best to help me as much as they could. The senior purser was just gem of a person. The whole flight experience was like magic, and everything seemed to go smoothly. Therefore, yes the world can be ideal sometimes.
 
For such a short flight and a tiny aircraft, there are only two cabin crew members, one located at each end of the aircraft.
 
Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
There are 76 seats in the Bombardier Dash-8 300, with a 2-2 configuration. The flight had an interesting mix of stereotypical passengers that you would expect coming back from an exotic island, such as Boracay. The flight consisted of a gay couple (one of the men had a rooster style haircut…pink hair, naturally), there was a very old white foreigner with his very young Filipino mail order bride, and there were American college students, who were clearly looked as though they were in Boracay to just mess around. All in all, it just seemed very comical…something like out of a movie…except that we were not expecting any ditching onto a remote island.  
 
Philippine Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The Philippine Airlines logo has gone under four incarnations in the entire length of its operations. The first logo incorporated a blue oval with "PAL" superimposed in white letters, a four-pointed star whose points intersect behind the "A" in the PAL initials, and a wing whose position varied depending on the location of the logo (the wing points to the right if located on the left side of the plane, left if on the right side).
 
A variant of this logo used a globe instead in the blue oval with the PAL initials superimposed. This logo would be in use from the 1950s until the mid-1960s, when it would be replaced by a second logo. The second logo adopted a blue triangle (with the bottom point missing) and a red triangle superimposed upon it, enclosed by a circle; this was meant to evoke a vertically-displayed national flag (the white being formed by the negative space between the two triangles' tips).
 
In the mid-1970s, a third logo, which removed the circle and simplified the shapes, was introduced. The typeface used in the third logo was later applied to the second logo, which remained the official PAL logo until 1986, when it would be replaced by the current logo. The current PAL logo features the same two blue and red triangles used in the second and third logos. However, an eight-rayed yellow sunburst that recalled the flag's Sun was superimposed on top of the blue triangle, and a new Helvetica typeface was used.
 
PAL liveries have undergone many incarnations. The first PAL aircraft bore a simple white-top, silver-bottom livery separated by solid straight cheatlines, with a small Philippine flag superimposed on the tail. The name "Philippine Air Lines" was superimposed in the upper forward portion of the fuselage and the PAL logo was located at the back. Later variants of the livery, especially on PAL jet aircraft, made use of an extended Philippine flag as cheatlines, with the PAL logo superimposed on the tail. By this time, the name "Philippine Airlines" was used in the livery.
 
Another variant of the original livery used by PAL is somewhat similar to the current livery. However, it uses PAL's third logo on the tail with blue, white and red cheatlines running the center of the fuselage. Later on, the bottom half of the fuselage was also painted white. The current "Eurowhite" livery, first used with the Short 360, was adopted in 1986 following PAL's corporate rebranding. This livery, (designed by Landor Associates) has the name "Philippines" superimposed on the forward portion of the fuselage in italics (using the PAL logo typeface), while the tail is painted with the logo and the Philippine flag is visible near the rear of the aircraft. The PAL logo is also painted on the winglets of aircraft that have them. The name "Philippines", instead of "Philippine Airlines", is to denote that PAL is the primary flag carrier of the Philippines. However, this sometimes leads to confusion that a PAL plane, especially when chartered by the President for official or state visits, is in fact the official air transport of the Philippine head of state. Any PAL aircraft with the callsign PR 001 is a special plane operated by Philippine Airlines to transport the President of the Philippines. For the airline's 70th anniversary, a special decal was placed on all of its aircraft. The sticker featured a stylized "70" and the words, "Asia's first, shining through".
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the national flag carrier of the Philippines. The airline was founded in 1941 and is the first and oldest commercial airline in Asia operating under its original name. Operating out of its hubs at Ninoy Aquino International Airport of Manila and Mactan-Cebu International Airport of Cebu, Philippine Airlines uses a fleet of 56 aircraft (with 37 on order), and serves 31 destinations in the Philippines and 36 overseas destinations in Southeast Asia, East Asia, Middle East, Oceania, North America and Europe.
 
Formerly one of the largest Asian airlines, PAL was severely affected by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. In one of the Philippines' biggest corporate failures, PAL was forced to downsize its international operations by completely cutting flights to Europe and Middle East, cutting virtually all domestic flights except routes operated from Manila, reducing the size of its fleet, and laying off thousands of employees.
 
The airline was placed under receivership in 1998, and gradually restored operations to many destinations. PAL exited receivership in 2007, and following the brief management takeover by the San Miguel group from 2012 to 2014, has been taking steps towards re-establishing itself as one of Asia's premier carriers.
 
The Airbus A330 aircraft is used for regional routes around the Asia Pacific region and China. I took this flight from Manila to Hong Kong, having travelled to Manila from Caticlan Airport in Boracay.
 
Route: MANILA AQUINO INTL. AIRPORT (MNL) to HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (HKG)

Departure date and time of flight: April 2015, 15:30

Flight number: PR311 (ICAO callsign: “Philippine 311”)

Flight duration: Two hours and ten minutes

Cabin: FIESTA ECONOMY CLASS

Aircraft type: AIRBUS A330-343 (15 in service)
 
Unit cost of each Airbus A330: US$253.7M, €231.3M (2015)
 
Aircraft registration: RP-C8766 (First flight October 1, 2014)
 
Engine Type: Two x Rolls Royce Trent 772B-60

Aircraft Serial Number: 1566
 
Frequent flyer programme: Mabuhay Miles
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
First Class: 18 seats in a 2-2-2 configuration
Premium Economy Class: 27 seats in a 3-3-3 configuration
Economy Class: 323 seats in a 3-3-3 configuration
 
Philippine Airlines currently offers two-class services on all aircraft, business (called Mabuhay Class) and economy (called Fiesta Class). During the second half of 2006, PAL announced a cabin reconfiguration project for its Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-300 aircraft. The airline spent US$85.7 million to remove all first class seats and increase the size of its business and economy seats, leading to the aforementioned new seats; as well as add personal screens with audio and video on-demand (AVOD) across both cabin classes. The cabin reconfiguration project began in the third quarter of 2008. The first 747-400 to be reconfigured (reg. RP-C7471) re-entered service in October 2008. The second reconfigured plane (reg. RP-C7475) was completed in May 2009, and the third (reg. RP-C7472) was completed July 2009. The fourth 747 (reg. RP-C7473) began reconfigured work in August 2009.

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues regarding the baggage. For First and Business Class, Philippine Airlines have a checked baggage allowance of 40 kg and 30 kg total respectively for all routes excluding transatlantic routes. Economy Class passengers can take 23kg in the hold. All routes have a carry-on allowance of one piece not exceeding 7 kg (50x37x25 cm).
 
Comments on the check-in:

I arrived around two hours early for check-in at the chaotic and manic Manila airport. One thing you immediately notice is that if the staff at the check-in counter, who are all Filipino, are very friendly and provide one of the best customer user experiences - the warmth of the Philippines hits you! The only other downside is that it can get very busy, noisy, chaotic and hot (just be ready for that!).
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed bang on time and we landed in Hong Kong around 15 minutes early due to low air traffic in the area. For some reason, experienced a very bad ear blockage as we descended into Hong Kong. Apparently, everyone else, including the crew, did as well.
 
Comments regarding the meal:

Late afternoon dinner was served around 20 minutes after take-off from Manila. For this short-haul flight, which was basically a hop across the sea to Hong Kong, we were served a basic meal of boneless fish with rice, and a bread bun. This was accompanied with a very scrumptious custard. Very delicious meal. Authentic Filipino cuisine at its best.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

Philippine Airlines recently introduced the iPad on-Demand on the trans-Pacific flights. Passengers can enjoy in-flight entertainment options such as movies, TV shows, music, games, and even magazines and newspapers.
 
Philippine Airlines is the first carrier in the Philippines to offer Wi-Fi on board, which began on April 1, 2013. It is named as Philippine Airlines In Air. Passengers are able to make calls, send and receive text messages, tweets, email and surf the Internet while flying. This plane offers GSM and Wi-Fi access to allowing passengers to browse the web, make phone calls, or stream content via their personal devices.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very hospitable, and proud to work for Philippine Airlines. There was a genuine smile on every crewmembers face and you could tell that they really enjoyed their job. There was a real sense of teamwork in the cabin. As a customer (or passenger) it is easy to tell if the cabin crew are not getting along with each other (it does happen like any other job!), and on this flight I could see that everyone was in a joyous mood. If there was something I wanted or a question I had, then no one objected to it. Instead, they tried their best to help me as much as they could. The senior purser was just gem of a person. The whole flight experience was like magic, and everything seemed to go smoothly. Therefore, yes the world can be ideal sometimes.
 
Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
This Airbus A330-300 features a three class configuration with 18 flatbed Business Class seats, 27 Premium Economy seats with up to 3” of extra legroom, and 323 standard Economy Class seats.
 
Philippine Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The Philippine Airlines logo has gone under four incarnations in the entire length of its operations. The first logo incorporated a blue oval with "PAL" superimposed in white letters, a four-pointed star whose points intersect behind the "A" in the PAL initials, and a wing whose position varied depending on the location of the logo (the wing points to the right if located on the left side of the plane, left if on the right side).
 
A variant of this logo used a globe instead in the blue oval with the PAL initials superimposed. This logo would be in use from the 1950s until the mid-1960s, when it would be replaced by a second logo. The second logo adopted a blue triangle (with the bottom point missing) and a red triangle superimposed upon it, enclosed by a circle; this was meant to evoke a vertically-displayed national flag (the white being formed by the negative space between the two triangles' tips).
 
In the mid-1970s, a third logo, which removed the circle and simplified the shapes, was introduced. The typeface used in the third logo was later applied to the second logo, which remained the official PAL logo until 1986, when it would be replaced by the current logo. The current PAL logo features the same two blue and red triangles used in the second and third logos. However, an eight-rayed yellow sunburst that recalled the flag's Sun was superimposed on top of the blue triangle, and a new Helvetica typeface was used.
 
PAL liveries have undergone many incarnations. The first PAL aircraft bore a simple white-top, silver-bottom livery separated by solid straight cheatlines, with a small Philippine flag superimposed on the tail. The name "Philippine Air Lines" was superimposed in the upper forward portion of the fuselage and the PAL logo was located at the back. Later variants of the livery, especially on PAL jet aircraft, made use of an extended Philippine flag as cheatlines, with the PAL logo superimposed on the tail. By this time, the name "Philippine Airlines" was used in the livery.
 
Another variant of the original livery used by PAL is somewhat similar to the current livery. However, it uses PAL's third logo on the tail with blue, white and red cheatlines running the center of the fuselage. Later on, the bottom half of the fuselage was also painted white. The current "Eurowhite" livery, first used with the Short 360, was adopted in 1986 following PAL's corporate rebranding. This livery, (designed by Landor Associates) has the name "Philippines" superimposed on the forward portion of the fuselage in italics (using the PAL logo typeface), while the tail is painted with the logo and the Philippine flag is visible near the rear of the aircraft. The PAL logo is also painted on the winglets of aircraft that have them. The name "Philippines", instead of "Philippine Airlines", is to denote that PAL is the primary flag carrier of the Philippines. However, this sometimes leads to confusion that a PAL plane, especially when chartered by the President for official or state visits, is in fact the official air transport of the Philippine head of state. Any PAL aircraft with the callsign PR 001 is a special plane operated by Philippine Airlines to transport the President of the Philippines. For the airline's 70th anniversary, a special decal was placed on all of its aircraft. The sticker featured a stylized "70" and the words, "Asia's first, shining through".
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

PAL Express, formerly Air Philippines or Airphil Express, is an airline operating under the business name of Air Philippines Corporation. It operates domestic and international scheduled services from Manila, Cebu, Davao City and Zamboanga. The airline has been re-branded a number of times, first as Air Philippines, then Airphil Express, and is now known as PAL Express. After a series of financial losses, Air Philippines ceased operations until it was acquired by investors from Philippine Airlines. After the acquisition, the airline was re-launched as PAL Express, operating some routes and slot assignments of its sister company Philippine Airlines until management decided to re-brand the carrier as a budget airline known as Airphil Express. However, in March 2013, the company's CEO announced that the name would revert to PAL Express. As a codeshare partner of Philippine Airlines, PAL Express operates as a full service carrier within a low-cost model.
 
PAL Express is Philippine Airlines' answer to Cebu Pacific Air's dominance in the low-cost travel market in the Philippines. It has allowed PAL to focus on the premium market, where domestically PAL does not have competition. Airphil Express gained a significant increase in passengers following its launch as a low-cost carrier. The airline is currently in fleet acquisition model to support its planned domestic and international route expansion plan. Airphil Express currently holds the no. 3 position among Philippine-based airlines, with 19% market share.
 
The Dash-8 aircraft is used for domestic routes, especially to the smaller island airports. I took this flight from Manila to Boracay’s Caticlan Airport.
 
Route: MANILA AQUINO INTL. AIRPORT-CATICLAN AIRPORT-

Departure date and time of flight: April 2015, 15:30

Flight number: PR2041 (ICAO callsign: “AirPhil 2041”)

Flight duration: 40 minutes

Cabin: FIESTA ECONOMY CLASS

Aircraft type: Dash 8-300 (9 in service)
 
Aircraft registration: RP-C3018
 
Engine Type: Two x PWC PW123
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 658
 
Frequent flyer programme: Mabuhay Miles
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
Economy Class: 76 seats in a 2-2 configuration

Any baggage issues:
 
No issues regarding the baggage. For First and Business Class, Philippine Airlines have a checked baggage allowance of 40 kg and 30 kg total respectively for all routes excluding transatlantic routes. Economy Class passengers can take 23kg in the hold. All routes have a carry-on allowance of one piece not exceeding 7 kg (50x37x25 cm).
 
Comments on the check-in:

This was a connecting flight from Hong Kong to Boracay via Manila. At Manila, you have to change terminals, from the International Terminal to the Domestic Terminal. Be prepared to face a noisy, chaotic and unorganised airport terminal. Despite the chaos, the Filipino people are very friendly and nice, and very helpful as well. I admire them for their tolerance levels. Amazing.
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed bang on time and we landed in Caticlan around five minutes early due to low air traffic in the area. You get to see spectacular views of Boracay when you land- the plane goes over the main island on approach.
 
Comments regarding the meal:

Just a packet of crisps, and a bottle of water.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

None
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very hospitable, and proud to work for Philippine Airlines. There was a genuine smile on every crewmembers face and you could tell that they really enjoyed their job. There was a real sense of teamwork in the cabin. As a customer (or passenger) it is easy to tell if the cabin crew are not getting along with each other (it does happen like any other job!), and on this flight I could see that everyone was in a joyous mood. If there was something I wanted or a question I had, then no one objected to it. Instead, they tried their best to help me as much as they could. The senior purser was just gem of a person. The whole flight experience was like magic, and everything seemed to go smoothly. Therefore, yes the world can be ideal sometimes.
 
For such a short flight and a tiny aircraft, there are only two cabin crew members, one located at each end of the aircraft.
 
Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
There are 76 seats in the Bombardier Dash-8 300, with a 2-2 configuration.
 
Philippine Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The Philippine Airlines logo has gone under four incarnations in the entire length of its operations. The first logo incorporated a blue oval with "PAL" superimposed in white letters, a four-pointed star whose points intersect behind the "A" in the PAL initials, and a wing whose position varied depending on the location of the logo (the wing points to the right if located on the left side of the plane, left if on the right side).
 
A variant of this logo used a globe instead in the blue oval with the PAL initials superimposed. This logo would be in use from the 1950s until the mid-1960s, when it would be replaced by a second logo. The second logo adopted a blue triangle (with the bottom point missing) and a red triangle superimposed upon it, enclosed by a circle; this was meant to evoke a vertically-displayed national flag (the white being formed by the negative space between the two triangles' tips).
 
In the mid-1970s, a third logo, which removed the circle and simplified the shapes, was introduced. The typeface used in the third logo was later applied to the second logo, which remained the official PAL logo until 1986, when it would be replaced by the current logo. The current PAL logo features the same two blue and red triangles used in the second and third logos. However, an eight-rayed yellow sunburst that recalled the flag's Sun was superimposed on top of the blue triangle, and a new Helvetica typeface was used.
 
PAL liveries have undergone many incarnations. The first PAL aircraft bore a simple white-top, silver-bottom livery separated by solid straight cheatlines, with a small Philippine flag superimposed on the tail. The name "Philippine Air Lines" was superimposed in the upper forward portion of the fuselage and the PAL logo was located at the back. Later variants of the livery, especially on PAL jet aircraft, made use of an extended Philippine flag as cheatlines, with the PAL logo superimposed on the tail. By this time, the name "Philippine Airlines" was used in the livery.
 
Another variant of the original livery used by PAL is somewhat similar to the current livery. However, it uses PAL's third logo on the tail with blue, white and red cheatlines running the center of the fuselage. Later on, the bottom half of the fuselage was also painted white. The current "Eurowhite" livery, first used with the Short 360, was adopted in 1986 following PAL's corporate rebranding. This livery, (designed by Landor Associates) has the name "Philippines" superimposed on the forward portion of the fuselage in italics (using the PAL logo typeface), while the tail is painted with the logo and the Philippine flag is visible near the rear of the aircraft. The PAL logo is also painted on the winglets of aircraft that have them. The name "Philippines", instead of "Philippine Airlines", is to denote that PAL is the primary flag carrier of the Philippines. However, this sometimes leads to confusion that a PAL plane, especially when chartered by the President for official or state visits, is in fact the official air transport of the Philippine head of state. Any PAL aircraft with the callsign PR 001 is a special plane operated by Philippine Airlines to transport the President of the Philippines. For the airline's 70th anniversary, a special decal was placed on all of its aircraft. The sticker featured a stylized "70" and the words, "Asia's first, shining through".
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10